Barriers preventing lone parents from working need to be removed, according to OPEN, an organistation representing 80 lone parent groups.
Responding to suggestions by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, about phasing out the one-parent family payment when children reach the age of 13, OPEN director Frances Byrne said that she welcomed the ensuing debate.
“Most lone parents absolutely want to work and contribute to society and the economy,” Ms Byrne said.
“But the reality is that the barriers that exist, like childcare, access to education and training, are still real. On top of which we are now in recession.”
Ms Hanafin told The Irish Times that the Government’s current policy was not working. Continuing to make the payment until children are 22 if they remain in full-time education meant that lone parents were discouraged from having stable relationships, marrying or taking full-time jobs, the Minister said.
She accepted that some Cabinet colleagues would be “sensitive” and “wary” about changing the policy, but has insisted that the issue should be formally discussed by Government.
The OECD has this year criticised Ireland’s relatively high level of spending on single-parent welfare benefits.
In a report [1] comparing 30 developed countries, the OECD said that Ireland, the UK and New Zealand spent significant sums on lone-parent benefits that lasted until children were well into their teens.
“There is little or no evidence that these benefits positively influence child wellbeing, while they discourage single-parent employment,” the report said.
Meanwhile, Ms Hanafin said that unmarried parents should put the father’s name on the birth certificates of their children “as a norm”. There is currently no obligation to do so.
She referred to the Law Reform Commission’s recent proposal to encourage this in an interview on Newstalk radio.
“Personally, as a norm, I think the father’s name should be on the birth cert. A child has both parents, and I think a child is entitled to know and to have the support of those parents,” Ms Hanafin said.
She said that she knew there could be difficulties in cases of rape, incest “or some other horrific crimes” when the mother might not want to name the father.
More than 87,800 people were in receipt of the one-parent family payment in 2008.
Expenditure on the payment increased by 10.9 per cent last year to more than €1 billion. Just over 1,800 of those who received the payment were men.