Less than 3 per cent of lone parents on State assistance receive maintenance from their former spouse or partner, and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs appears ineffective in recovering any more, the report says.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, says the Department's failure to pursue people through the courts for avoiding maintenance may have created a perception that it is "severely compromised" in relation to targeting offenders.
The report says only 2,323 people have paid maintenance directly to their spouse or partner for the upkeep of children, a small proportion of the number likely to be liable.
It says the Department's strategy for making spouses and partners meet their commitments is of little deterrent value. No legal actions relating to maintenance were taken until 1998. Since then three have been taken but have yet to reach court.
In response, the Department says it has pursued offenders "as vigorously as possible" and has collected £23 million of maintenance between 1990 and 1999. It adds that it is trying to encourage lone parents to take jobs rather than stay on welfare.
Maintenance is sought from employed or self-employed people whose former partners are bringing up children alone with State assistance through the one-parent-family payment.
The parent has to make "reasonable efforts" to get maintenance from their former partner or spouse to be eligible for the payment. The Department also makes attempts to get maintenance from those it thinks can afford to pay.
The Department fails to follow up those liable if they make no response on first contact, says the report. Also, there is no review process to monitor a person's income after an initial assessment of their circumstances.
Other shortcomings highlighted are:
no individual debtor accounts maintained.
no analysis of debtors maintained. no procedures for the follow-up of defaulters.
no procedures for the write-off of uncollectable amounts.
no prioritisation of debt.
The report also highlights problems with gathering information. The Department does not know the costs of collecting maintenance or the total number of spouses or partners who could be liable.
"The Department needs to develop a strategy to establish a climate where the payment of maintenance by a liable relative is regarded as a normal, not exceptional, contribution towards the maintenance of lone parents and or their children".
Lack of resources in its maintenance recovery unit means certain regulations are not implemented fully by officials. The report emphasises that people not liable for maintenance at the time of an original one-parent-family payment assessment should be pursued later.
The full text of the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is available at the Irish Times website: www.ireland.com