25.— (1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 172:

“Qualified child for purposes of one-parent family payment.

172A.— In this Chapter, other than section 174(1), ‘qualified child’ means—

(a) a person who is ordinarily resident in the State,

(b) is not detained in a children detention school, and

(c) has—

(i) not attained the age of 14 years, or

(ii) attained the age of 14 years but has not attained the age of 16 years and is a child in respect of whom a payment under Chapter 8A of Part 3 is in payment.”.

(2) Section 173 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3) (as amended by section 8 of the Act of 2008):

“(3) Subject to this Act, a one-parent family payment shall not be payable to a qualified parent whose gross weekly earnings (including wages and profit from any form of self-employment) calculated or estimated in the manner that may be prescribed exceed €425.”,

(b) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) Where a person who has been in receipt of one-parent family payment for a period of 52 consecutive weeks, ceases to be entitled to the payment by virtue of his or her gross weekly earnings exceeding the amount specified in subsection (3) he or she shall, notwithstanding that subsection, continue to be entitled to that payment where he or she continues to satisfy the conditions for entitlement other than in subsection (3), and the payment shall be—

(a) calculated in accordance with subsection (5), and

(b) payable, in accordance with subsection (5B), for a period not exceeding 6 months from the date on which, but for this subsection, that person would have ceased to be so entitled.”,

and

(c) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (5):

“(5) Subject to subsection (5A), in the case of a person to whom subsection (4) applies, one-parent family payment shall be payable at an amount equal to 50 per cent of the weekly rate payable to the qualified parent immediately before the day on which, but for this subsection, the qualified parent would have ceased to be entitled to the payment.

(5A) The amount payable in accordance with subsection (5) shall be rounded up to the nearest 10 cent where it is a multiple of 5 cent but not also a multiple of 10 cent and shall be rounded to the nearest 10 cent where it is not a multiple of 5 cent or 10 cent.

(5B) Where the payment is made in accordance with subsection (4), the period of 6 months for which the payment is payable shall apply—

(a) where the 6 month period is comprised of 6 consecutive months, or

(b) where the payment is made other than in a period of 6 consecutive months, the cumulative total of all periods during which the payment is made shall not exceed 6 months,

from the date on which, but for subsection (4), the person referred to in subsection (4) would have ceased to be so entitled.”.

(3) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 173:

“Entitlement to one-parent family payment when child attains age of 14.

173A.— (1) This section applies—

(a) to a surviving spouse where both spouses of a married couple are, on the relevant date, living together and one of them dies, and

(b) to a surviving person where a man and a woman who are not married to each other are, on the relevant date,cohabiting as husband and wife and one of them dies,

and the surviving spouse or surviving person is the parent, step-parent, adoptive parent or legal guardian of at least one child who normally resides with that surviving spouse or surviving person and the youngest child has, on the relevant date,attained the age of 14 years.

(2) One-parent family payment shall be payable to a surviving spouse or surviving person to whom this section applies for a period—

(a) commencing on the relevant date and not exceeding 2 years, or

(b) commencing on the relevant date until the youngest child has attained the age of 18 years,

whichever is the shorter.

(3) In this section—

‘relevant date’ means the date of death of—

(a) the spouse of the surviving spouse, or

(b) the person cohabiting with the surviving person.

Entitlement to one-parent family payment in certain circumstances.

173B.— (1) This section applies—

(a) to a surviving spouse where both spouses of a married couple are, on the relevant date, living together and one of them dies, and

(b) to a surviving person where a man and a woman who are not married to each other are, on the relevant date,cohabiting as husband and wife and one of them dies,

and the surviving spouse or surviving person is the parent, step-parent, adoptive parent or legal guardian of at least one child who normally resides with that surviving spouse or surviving person and the youngest child has, on the relevant date,attained the age of 12 years but has not attained the age of 14 years.

(2) Where one-parent family payment is made, in accordance with section 173, in respect of a child referred to in subsection (1) from the relevant date, when the child attains the age of 14 years one-parent family payment shall be payable to a surviving spouse or a surviving person to whom this section applies for the remainder of the relevant period.

(3) In this section—

‘relevant date’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 173A;

‘relevant period’ means a period of 2 years commencing on the relevant date.”.

(4) Section 178A (as amended by section 23 of the Act of 2007) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsections after subsection (5):

“(6) Notwithstanding section 172A(c)(i), a qualified parent who, immediately before the commencement of that section, is in receipt of a one-parent family payment and but for that section would continue to be so eligible, shall continue to be eligible for the payment as follows:

(a) in 2011, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 18;

(b) in 2012, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 18;

(c) in 2013, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 17;

(d) in 2014, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 16;

(e) in 2015, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 15;

(f) in 2016, until the youngest qualified child attains the age of 14.

(7) Notwithstanding section 172A, where, immediatelybefore the commencement of section 172A a qualified parent is in receipt of a one-parent family payment, the payment shall continue to be payable to that person up to the end of the 2012 academic year in respect of a child who, having attained the age of 18 years, is under the age of 22 years and is receiving full-time education, in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

(8) Notwithstanding section 172A, where a person, who, having been in receipt of the one-parent family payment for 52 consecutive weeks, is disqualified for receipt of that payment by virtue of—

(a) having gross weekly earnings in excess of that specified in section 173(3), or

(b) participation in a scheme commonly known as the back to education allowance,

and where but for that disqualification the person would beentitled to that one-parent family payment, the person shall again become entitled to that payment, subject to, and in accordance with, subsection (6), at the expiration of the disqualification.

(9) Where, immediately before the commencement of section 172A, a person whose claim for a one-parent family payment has not been fully determined, and who would, but for the commencement of that section, have become entitled to the one-parent family payment, that payment shall, in accordance with his or her entitlement under this Act, be payable for the duration of his or her entitlement.

(10) Subsections (6) and (8) shall cease to have effect on 31 December 2016.”.