THOUSANDS OF lone parents in receipt of social welfare may be required to enter the workforce under proposals due to be published by the Government early next year.
Single parents would be required to engage in either work, training or education once their youngest child reaches a certain age under the plans.
Government officials had settled on the age of seven, but Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said yesterday this was too young and should be raised upwards.
She said the move would help lift many lone parents out of poverty by helping to motivate and support them. At present lone parents on welfare are particularly prone to poverty and deprivation.
The reforms have been promised by successive government ministers and are still under discussion. Ms Hanafin said yesterday she expected solid proposals to be ready by next spring.
However, single parent groups such as One Family say any measures need to be voluntary and accompanied by affordable childcare and the removal of welfare "poverty traps".
More than 85,000 lone parents are reliant on social welfare as their main source of income. Official figures show that children in these families are at a much higher risk of poverty than the rest of the population.
Ireland is one of the few countries which does not require lone parents in receipt of welfare to seek work or training. In countries such as Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy, for example, lone parents on welfare are required to seek work once the youngest child is three years of age.
Ms Hanafin signalled yesterday that the reforms may compel lone parents on welfare to seek training or education, rather than operating on a voluntary basis. But she said there would need to be key support in place to help parents return to work, such as childcare and family-friendly policies.
"This is about recognising that these people could well be living in poverty, they are dependent on rent supplement, they are prevented from getting into long-term relationships or marriage, because of the conditions that we place on our lone parent payment," Ms Hanafin said.
"It is not good for the child, it is not good for the family and it is not good for society."
At present about €900 million a year is spent by the State on the lone parent allowance - or one-parent family payment, as it is now known - compared to just over €300 million in 1997.
The State pays a further €200 million in supports, such as rent allowance, to single-parent families.
The Minister was speaking at the publication of a report based on a survey of more than 1,600 lone parents who receive welfare benefits.
The vast majority of respondents - 84 per cent - are working, looking for work or engaged in education or training, according to the report by One Family, a provider of family support services to one-parent families in Ireland.
Report author Candy Murphy, the research and policy manager with One Family, said any reforms need to be on a voluntary basis, building on the strong motivation to work among parents highlighted in the study.
She said a package of supports was needed, as is the situation in other countries that have adopted a similar approach.
"These supports must include greater access to affordable, quality childcare for lone parents, the removal of the rent supplement poverty trap and support for greater access to education, training and qualifications, in order to succeed," she said.
