Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
105. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide an update on the proposed legislation on child maintenance system changes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33415/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to ask the Minister for Social Protection about the recommendations from the child maintenance review group. This is an area that has long been in urgent need of reform. The challenges that lone parents face, the fact they have to fight this battle on their own, very often, and the fact that their income from maintenance has been taken into account for means has created a lot of challenges for a category of people who, more commonly than most, are at risk of poverty. I seek an update from the Minister on the implementation of the recommendations from the review group.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The report of the child maintenance review group was published last November. The Government accepted the group's recommendations regarding the social welfare system. I am pleased to say that, pending the introduction of the necessary legislation, my Department has already implemented some of the recommended changes on an administrative basis. As a result, my Department is no longer applying the efforts to seek maintenance requirement to the one-parent family payment and the jobseeker's transitional payment. As this requirement often involved lone parents having to go to court to seek a maintenance order, this change removes a potential additional stress for them, as well as helping to reduce the burden on our courts system.
In addition, the liable relative provisions are not being applied to new claims for the one-parent family payment. This means that my Department will no longer seek to recoup a portion of claim costs from the non-resident parent in these cases. I want to be very clear that removing these provisions does not replace or supersede the primary responsibility of parents to maintain their children.
Furthermore, child maintenance payments will be disregarded in the means test for social welfare payments. This measure will mean that many lone parents currently on reduced rates of payment will see their payment increase and some additional lone parents will qualify for a payment.
It is estimated that this measure will be of direct benefit to approximately 16,000 lone parents, at a cost of approximately €10 million per year.
These are very significant reforms of the social welfare system that will be of great benefit to lone parents. These changes require amendments to both primary and secondary legislation as well as changes to some of my Department's systems, application forms and processes. Work on the legislation is at an advanced stage. Some of the recommendations have already been implemented on an administrative basis.
I thank the Minister. There are acceptance issues concerning the justice recommendations in respect of the agency, but that is outside the Minister's remit. I welcome that the Department has accepted the recommendations concerning the social protection system. The Minister has stated – it is my understanding also – that she is not including child maintenance in the means test for new claimants; however, in the ordinary work of the Department, lone parents on the likes of the one-parent family payment or jobseeker's transitional payment are occasionally reviewed, naturally. My understanding is that the disregard is not applied to those being reviewed and only to new claimants. This needs to be rectified.
Could the Minister give us an update on the progress on the legislation required?
Definitely, new claims are not liable. We have changed the rules on the administrative basis for new claims. I will have to revert to the Deputy on whether, based on the review, it has been possible to make the changes. I will double-check.
The legislation is a bit more complex than we initially thought. Different parts of it, both secondary and primary, are affected, so the officials have to go through them all in detail to ensure every aspect of the three measures is covered. When we make the changes, we want to ensure we get it right. It has taken a little longer than we thought but we are applying the disregard where we can on an administrative basis.
I am pleased to say that I expect to have Government approval for the legislation very shortly. I will be bringing a memorandum to the Cabinet and I will then bring the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas.
I thank the chair of the Child Maintenance Review Group, former judge Catherine Murphy. I acknowledge Deputy O'Leary's predecessor in this area, Deputy Kerrane. She too was very passionate about the subject, on which we had good conversations and very constructive discussions. Senator Lynn Ruane is also very passionate about the subject and she too has done a lot of work on it. As the Deputy knows, I worked in a credit union and saw at first hand the issue that the Deputy is raising. It was something I wanted to do something about, so we will move as quickly as we can.
