Sinn Féin spokesperson on Social Protection, Claire Kerrane TD, has urged Minister Humphreys to publish the report by the Child Maintenance Review Group immediately.

Speaking after raising the report with Minister Humphreys in the Dáil this morning, Teachta Kerrane said:

“The Child Maintenance Review Group was established in 2020 after much pressure from one-parent organisations and from my party for child maintenance to be examined. Its establishment was widely welcomed.

“The report was finalised and issued to the Minister in April; six months on and it still has not been published.

“While the Minister emphasises the complexity of the issue of child maintenance, which is not lost on any of us, least of all one-parent families, there is no excuse for this report not to be published for everyone to see.

“Minister Humphreys confirmed this morning that she will bring the report to the government before the end of the year and that a date for publication will be considered then. This may mean we will not see the report until 2023. This is unacceptable.

“One-parent organisations have waited a long time to see this report. Today, One Family celebrates 50 years, and for much of that time, they, along with SPARK, have championed the need for action on child maintenance.

“Sinn Féin has long advocated for the establishment of a Child Maintenance Service, such a service can only be positive for one-parent families, many of whom live in consistent poverty and experience deprivation.

“We are not seeing a sense of urgency from the government on this issue and I am again calling on Minister Humphreys to publish the completed report and give us all an opportunity to engage on it.”