Dublin South West TD Seán Crowe has welcomed the High Court decision that the Department of Social Protection must review a decision to grant a single person’s rent allowance to a father with joint custody of his four children.

This court case centred around the  argument that the Department had not taken into account the rights of a parent  as a joint custodian and of the children to the care and support of their respective parent

Speaking after the judgement, Crowe described the ruling as a victory for common sense and said it will create a positive precedent.

Deputy  Seán Crowe said:

“This welcome and ground breaking court decision will have a significant impact on family units right across the state. The judgement will also hopefully create a positive precedent and will inevitably require the Department of Social and Family Affairs to review its current unfair policy against lone and separated parents

“Thankfully the court found that because the parent had joint custody of the children, that no parent could be deemed the primary carer and the decision to grant a single person’s rent allowance did not take into account the family’s real life circumstances.

“Currently people on the single person’s rent allowance are being effectively blocked from accessing housing, they have to  compete with couples for the same small number of properties but because they receive an even lower rate of Rent Supplement, they are put at a  greater disadvantage while awaiting social housing.

“The real effect of  the Department of Social Protection to treat a parent as a single person for the purposes of determining the appropriate amount of rent supplement has also meant that many separated parents have been unable to have any meaningful access to housing. The impact is distressing for the parents and for the children, who have also been denied their right to the care and support of their father or mother.

“The Department of Social and Family Affairs  needs to look again at its policies when it comes single parents as the current system is not fair and is excluding many family units.” ENDS