South and East Belfast Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

CHILD MAINTENANCE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN MONIES COULD BE BETTER SPENT

Published: 10 September, 2008

Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey has stated that monies spent on an advertising campaign with regards to Child Maintenance payments could be better used to pursue parents who have not paid maintenance or to address the £80m deficit owed to our children

Mr Maskey said:

"The launch of this advertising campaign is ill though out. If absent parents aren't compelled to pay or are unable to pay I don't see how any advertising campaign is going to change this.

"The advertising campaign will also do nothing to address the fact that £40m of owed maintenance will never be collected due a 6 year time limit having passed, after which maintenance payments were to be made, without anything being collected.

"Given that only 12 cases have been successfully brought for non payment of child maintenance between April and December of 2007, surely the money spent on a fruitless advertising campaign would be better spent looking at other ways to retrieve the total of £80m debt owed to children through the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division." CRÍOCH