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STATE BENEFITS PAID to single-parent families will be curbed from next month, according to a letter circulated to recipients.
The circular, sent by the Department of Social Protection from its Sligo headquarters, informs recipients of the One-Family Parent (OFP) payment that the state will begin to lower the age at which children no longer entitle their parent to the payment effective from April 27 next month.
From next month, new claimants will receive the payment only until their child turns 14 – a significant reduction from the current system, where the payment is made to claimants whose children are up to 18 years old, or 22 years old in the case of children in full-time education.
Existing claimants will have the payment cut off from January 2013 if their child has turned 17, with the age limit reduced every year until January 2016, after which payment will stop when the child reaches the age of 14.
The new rules will mean that, from next month, single parents with children up to 18 years of age – or up to 22 years of age if they are still in secondary or third level education – while new applicants from the end of April will only be able to receive the same payments for children under the age of 14.
The rules were signed into law by the former social protection minister Éamon Ó Cuív on March 1 – the week after the general election saw his Fianna Fáil party booted out of office, but before he was replaced as minister by Joan Burton.
The payment currently stands at €188 a week, though the payment is means-tested and is not paid to parents earning more than €425 a week. Claimants are required to apply for the payment within three months of becoming eligible to receive it.
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Europe, and Ireland epitomises this, wallows in a welfare, give me, quagmire. Where instead of encouraging people to pursue ideas and ambitions, the masses would rather ridicule those that try and fail, to the point of ‘celebrating’ a person’s failure. Those that do succeed usually end ‘hated’, ‘despised’ and generally blamed for everybody’s ills. If Europe (including Ireland), want to start producing Googles, Facebooks, etc we need a serious change of mindset. Especially in schools where children are taught from day one that all that matters is grades. That the object of life is to get good/great results so they can go on to college/university to get a ‘good degree’ and hence get a good job. Wouldn’t it be better to encourage children to use and explore their imaginations and help them build ideas??
That should be the first paragraph on Irelands Wikipedia page.
I’d far prefer raise children in the Europe you described than the failed Utopia of the USA that you failed to describe. Silicon Valley is a community of the smartest tech brains in the world. Legislation has been put in place to facilitate and encourage this but you can’t thank the US education system for that. The Collison brothers were educated in Limerick and have gone on to create one of the fastest growing tech start up’s globally in recent years.
dude you are spot on but also weeing into the Atlantic in North Donegal. You know what happens.
@Rocky Raccoon. Where would dear old Ireland & for that matter Europe be without ‘the failed Utopia of the USA’?? The Marshall Plan, US investment, US technology, etc. If the US is a failed utopia, than that makes europe a barren wasteland. Yes the Collison brothers did do well but again it was on the back of US technology. And as for all the socialists talking about innovation having nothing to do with capitalism. None of the businesses or technology conglomerates, or indeed Silicon Valley would be here today without Wall Street and it’s cash laden investors, who took a risk on the back of someone’s idea or product.
It’s very simple. Socialism does not breed innovation or success, because there is little incentive. Capitalism encourages competition and personal motivation
Actually no, capitalism has nothing to do with innovation. In fact studies have shown that the better paid someone gets for doing a task the worse they will perform. The key is value of ideas and freedom to explore interests; economic models whether socialism or capitalism have no bearing on this.
Capitalism facilitates innovation. “The better paid someone gets” has nothing to do with the argument that free market capitalism better breeds innovation than a centrally planned society. I’m also wondering as a matter of interest if your “studies have shown” remark has any scientifically reviewed backing..
Capitalism has everything to do with innovation. The reason we all carry affordable smart phones right is because of capitalism. Socialists did not invent smart phones. Socialists do not drive innovation.
Zero encouragement + Zero Creativity = Zero Facebooks or Googles
EU: Property is the best investment
I think The Journal is a good business model which could work around the world.
We should nationalise Facebook. Simples.
hit green tumb if you like cake.. the red if you would like to kick a puppy in the face
Here is what it boils down to (bare with me).
1) There is a difference between uncertainty and risk
– Risk is uncertainty that can be quantified
– Uncertainty is unquantifiable
2) Investors, even angel startup capital investors, cannot invest in a risk they cannot quantify. No private source of funding can
3) The US has programmes in place to fund highly innovative projects that are uncertain
The EU noticed how successful the US model, but completely failed to understand the above factors. They did everything like the US except made the innovator front a portion of the risk. So EU innovators go bankrupt on their first attempt and never try again, while US innovators keep trying until they succeed.
Ireland’s model is even stupider. They won’t hand over any money unless there is a third party private investor involved as well. Again, missing the point. Private investors cannot invest in uncertain projects and uncertain projects result in the greatest amount of innovation.
Another problem with the EU and Irish models is that once an application is rejected you can’t reapply. Under the US model, you can reapply through as many different authorising bodies as you like. And the authorising bodies are government agencies like NASA who know a thing or two.
The US programme is called the SBIR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Business_Innovation_Research
…”starting off in the US gives a company a single English-speaking market of 320 million people within which to grow.”
Europe need to move to Luro … Language for the United Regions of Europe.
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