Single parents will no longer have to go to court to avail of certain social welfare payments under sweeping reforms announced on Wednesday.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys also confirmed that social welfare payments will no longer be included in the means test for the payments.
Minister Humphreys and Justice Minister Helen McEntee published the Report of the Child Maintenance Review Group.
Lone Parents will no longer have child maintenance payments assessed against them in means tests for payments from the Department of Social Protection.
The requirement for Lone Parents to seek maintenance, which is usually done through the Courts, in order to be eligible for payments such as One Parent Family Payment will also be removed.
Minister Humphreys said that the process of parents going to the courts to seek maintenance before being able to get the payment was an “added stress” for lone parents.
She said that child maintenance is about “looking after the child” and is about “putting more money in the pockets of loan parents”.
“Let’s be honest, more than often it is women who are affected and particularly in cases where relationships have broken down in very difficult circumstances,” Ms Humphreys said.
“Removing this requirement will also help to reduce the burden on the court system.
“I believe that these recommendations are very progressive and that they will be very beneficial for lone parents.”
Minister McEntee announced that she had received Government approval to publish the Family Court Bill and the first National Family Justice Strategy.
These reforms will be supported by the construction of a purpose-built Family Law Court complex at Hammond Lane in Dublin.
As part of the National Family Justice Strategy, Minister McEntee’s Department will undertake a review of the enforcement of child maintenance orders.
Ms Humphreys said that parents who have been told they need to pay maintenance must do so without missing weeks.
She continued: “Sometimes partners, and most of the time it's men, sometimes they were able to get out of attachment orders for maintenance payments too easily.
“If they change jobs or if they moved on to social welfare payments, the maintenance payments stop.
“I saw many women coming into [the Credit Union] they’d get a week, they’d miss a few weeks.
“They’d get another week, miss a few more, they'd end up with the maintenance in arrears, possibly then having to go back to court to get the whole thing restarted.
“We want the maintenance payment to stick so that when somebody receives a maintenance order and they have to pay so much a week and they just get on and pay it so we don’t have this carry on where they’re missing weeks.”
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