Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 February 2015
7. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will reverse the decision to transfer single parents who are carers from receipt of the full one-parent family payment and half carer's allowance to full carer's allowance once their youngest children reach the age of seven years. [4966/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraWill the Tánaiste reverse the cuts for single parents whose children are over seven years of age or acknowledge that the promise she made in 2012 to introduce such measures only if Scandinavian-style child care services were available has been broken? Will she acknowledge that the cuts will increase poverty among lone parents, 63% of whom are living in deprivation? Does she believe that, unlike other children in the State, their children who are over seven years of age can look after themselves?
We had a detailed discussion on this issue in dealing with a prior question. People are entering a transitional period in that, for a further six or seven years, they will move to jobseeker's transitional payments. However, the Deputy was not present for that discussion.
I watched it.
The Deputy should bear in mind that the move to a transitional payment is in respect of children up to 13 years of age.
Some 69,884 lone parents are being supported under the one-parent family payment scheme, at an estimated cost to the Department of Social Protection and taxpayers of approximately €607 million in 2015.
When introducing the one-parent family payment scheme age change reforms in 2012, a special provision was included for recipients who are claiming the domiciliary care allowance for a disabled child aged under 16 years. This special provision ensures that lone parents who care for a child with a disability qualifying for the domiciliary care allowance will continue to receive support until that child reaches the age of 16 years and can apply for the disability allowance in their own right. As a result of this provision 1,650 lone parents will not be affected by the next phase of the one-parent family payment age reforms, which is due to take effect in July.
It is expected that on foot of the final phase of one-parent family payment scheme age reforms, another cohort of recipients who are in receipt of the half-rate carer’s allowance, as they are caring for another person, namely, an adult or a child aged 16 years or over, may be affected by the July changes. I am therefore working with my officials in examining the position of these lone parents and the potential impact of the July change. I expect those deliberations will conclude in the coming weeks. In this regard, Deputies will recall that before Christmas I reviewed the reduction to the income disregard for lone parents due to be introduced last January and in January 2016. In order to maintain the existing incentive for employment, I brought forward provisions to maintain the level of disregard at 2014 levels.
Does the Tánaiste agree that this cut is one of a list of many and that it is now part of a pattern of broken promises to women, in particular, who make up the majority of single parents? She has slashed child benefit, rent supplement and now she is forcing parents with children over seven onto jobseeker's allowance. It will mean cuts of €57 to €86 a week for people who do not have access to child care. In 2012, the Tánaiste said she would not bring this in unless we had child care provision similar to that in Scandinavia. I think she will agree that we do not have that. Single-parent families are the biggest group in poverty. According to the CSO survey, 63% are in deprivation. The organisation OPEN has said that they live in constant fear of an energy bill or homelessness. We might as well reopen the mother and baby homes and have done with it, because the Tánaiste is forcing people-----
Will the Deputy please put her question? The time is up.
-----not to have any choice about being able to bring up children in lone parent situations.
The majority of lone parents are not in work.
They were before the Tánaiste's cuts.
There is absolutely no change in their payments. The reason the changes are being brought in is to give parents, when their child reaches seven years of age, a six-year transition period to enable them, in particular, to become involved in education or training with a view to being able get employment when their children are older and in second level education, because the best route out of poverty is for somebody to get employment. I reiterate that there is no impact on the vast majority of lone parents who have family caring commitments to their children and are caring for their children on a full-time basis. Parents tell me all the time that they would like to be able to go back to work but to do that they need, in particular, to be able to get education and training and then get a better-paying job. That has the single biggest impact in terms of improving their family income situation and the situation for their children. That is the purpose of the changes, it is to make things better for people.
Does the Tánaiste ever wonder why she got the reception she did in Jobstown? Does she ever wonder why people sat in front of her car? The reason they did so is that it is one of the most deprived areas of the country and she is seen by people as the Marie Antoinette of this Government.
Will the Deputy put her question?
The one difference between her and Marie Antoinette is that Marie Antoinette did not make any promises. She was not elected on a platform of not cutting child benefit and of being in favour of women's rights. The Tánaiste has broken every single promise to families in this country.
This is Question Time. The Deputy should put her question.
In particular, she has stuck the knife into the backs of lone parents with this cut. Then she wonders why people around the country are angry and are not throwing red carpets under her feet. She has reduced people to going to soup kitchens. The biggest single group going to soup kitchens is single parents.
This is Question Time. The Deputy should put her supplementary question.
Would the Tánaiste accept that all this is being done in the interest of making cuts to meet targets set by the troika - the EU, the IMF and the ECB - in aid of the bondholders? That is why she is getting the reception she is getting in communities. She can expect much more of it if she keeps this up.
Deputy Coppinger's colleague was one of the principal organisers of the event in Jobstown.
He was not. People do not like the Tánaiste.
The people who organised that event cast a slur on the very good people of Jobstown.
The Tánaiste slurred them.
This was an event to celebrate-----
We are dealing with Question Time here.
The Tánaiste slurred them.
-----the success of people from the local community-----
They did not want the Tánaiste there in the first place.
Could the Tánaiste just reply to the supplementary question?
-----including a number of lone parents, who were graduating with a degree. Graduating with a degree and going to college might mean nothing to the Deputy, but I come from a very strong working class background.
The Tánaiste is way over time on this question.
Here we go. Listen to the violins. The Tánaiste does not come from a working class background. She should stop lecturing us.
Actually, a lone parent-----
Would Deputy Coppinger please resume her seat and stay quiet? There are other Deputies waiting to get their questions answered.
Yes. The Tánaiste should answer them.
Deputy Coppinger can defend-----
We are way over time. The Tánaiste is now two minutes over time on this question.
I am convinced that helping lone parents into education and training and helping them get a job, and the Jobstown-----
Would the Tánaiste please adhere to the Chair?
The Jobstown graduation was to celebrate that, for people from the community. That is the right approach.
There are other Deputies here, waiting for their questions.
