More than 5,800 people are not paying child maintenance to their former partner despite being issued with orders to do so by social welfare inspectors.
New figures show that officials at the Department of Social and Family Affairs have identified just over 8,000 people over the last three years who are liable to pay child maintenance worth tens of millions of euro.
By the end of last month, 2,190 of these liable relatives had been paying child maintenance payments through the department, contributing to an overall total of €2 million collected from relatives.
The gender breakdown of the absent parents contacted for maintenance is not available, but officials say the majority of liable relatives are male.
In an effort to combat the level of non-payment, the department has initiated some 182 court cases to secure maintenance from liable relatives. However, the department can only look for maintenance payments from the date of the court hearing as there is no facility to recoup arrears.
While thousands of liable parents are not paying child maintenance, there have been significant improvements in tracking down those who have refused to meet their legal obligations.
A tougher approach resulted in savings of €14 million in 2004 as a result of direct cash payments and the consequent reduction in State-funded one-parent family payments. This compares to savings of just €2 million in 2001.
Many non-paying parents who have been identified by officials were not obliged to contribute because they were on social welfare or low incomes. Ability to pay is assessed on factors such as the parent's net income and mortgage repayment obligations.