Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan has published proposals for replacing the current lone parent welfare payment with a new parental allowance that will be paid to parents of children in receipt of social welfare.
The new allowance will be paid to all parents on social welfare with children under a certain age as an alternative to unemployment allowances or other benefits. The move would also remove the controversial cohabitation rule which encourages those on single parent allowances to live alone.
After a child reaches five years parents will be required to seek training or a job, and the allowance would cease after a child reaches either seven or 12 years.
The proposals are contained in a report drawn up by a team of civil servants who spent a year examining the current system.
The Government is holding a consultation forum on the report, and Mr Brennan hopes to bring final proposals to Government by the summer. He moved to reassure people on the current system that it would not result in a reduction in welfare payments.
"This is not about creating savings for the Exchequer," he said. "It is about having a more enlightened social policy."
He said the additional measures would cost an extra €70 million on top of the current €1.35 billion cost of the lone parents allowance, now called the one-parent family payment, and other child and family benefits paid to them.
The report found that although €1.35 billion was being paid in benefits and allowances to one-parent families, this was not tackling poverty and social exclusion.Thirty per cent of lone parents lived in consistent poverty in 2004, compared with 7 per cent of the overall population.
The report also found low levels of educational attainment among many single parents. It found the State was failing to "engage" with lone parents and that it was possible for an individual to receive the lone parent payment for 22 years without any attempt to help a person find work or get improved training and education. It states that there are still significant barriers to lone parents going into full-time employment.
The report proposes improved educational and training opportunities for lone parents and providing better childcare services and information services for single parents.
Groups representing single parents gave a cautious welcome to plans to Mr Brennan's plans. One Family said after their child reached the age of seven, single parents not accessing employment, education or training would be moved on to unemployment assistance. Policy and campaigns manager Candy Murphy said: "The reforms may create a situation where one-parent families are likely to then face a difficult choice of continuing in poverty or returning to work on a full-time basis, regardless of their ongoing caring responsibilities."
Open - the One Parent Exchange and Network - said the proposals were "radical" but said it was sceptical of the ability of Government departments to deliver the training and work-related supports to lone parents.