COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL PROTECTION:A REPORT on financial disincentives to family formation has been sent to Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív. The report was drawn up by the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection and was launched yesterday.

Fianna Fáil TD Thomas Byrne, a member of the committee, said yesterday that the study, conducted with the help of financial journalist Colm Rapple, showed there could be a gap of up to €500 a month between a couple with children who did not live together and a couple who did.

The report showed that a person in receipt of the means-tested one-parent family payment (OPFP) of €196 a week was also eligible for a number of other social welfare supports, including the jobseeker’s allowance, rent supplement and a medical card.

But once a lone parent married or cohabited, the unit of assessment for social welfare payment is the household as a whole, the parent is no longer eligible for the OPFP, and the joint income from the two adults could push them over the limit to receive a range of benefits.

The proposals include fully individualised social welfare payments or a parental allowance payable to all low-income parents, Mr Byrne said. These could be costly if there was not to be a substantial reduction of social welfare rates, he said. Work on the report began before the current economic crisis and it was not written with the budget in mind, but with a view to supporting family life.

Róisín Shortall TD said the issue had arisen 15 years ago and a report was prepared proposing a parental allowance. However, no action had been taken, and the situation remained the same.

“We all have constituents coming to us saying they cannot afford to marry or live together. We are asking the Minister for Social Protection to at least cost the proposals that are there.”