Measures which will benefit households where one spouse or partner is claiming social welfare and the other is working part-time have been signed into law by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern.
The new employment-friendly provisions will come into effect on April 6th and will benefit some households by up to £32 a week.
Under the measures a spouse will be able to earn up to £70 a week and still retain the full Qualified Adult Allowance. The limit is now £60 a week.
The income range at which a reduced adult allowance is paid will rise from between £60 and £105 to between £70 and £135.
As well as the adult allowance, the measures will also apply to contributory old age pensions, retirement and invalid pensions.
The legislation also allows for an improvement in the rate at which the Qualified Adult Allowance is introduced. This will benefit part-time workers who are due to get a wage increase under minimum wage legislation.
There will also be benefits in the payment of the Child Dependant Allowances. Under existing arrangements these allowances are paid at half rate once the income of the claimant's spouse exceeds £60 a week. This will rise to £136 a week.
Mr Ahern said last night the arrangements would offer significant benefits to part-time workers. He decided on the measures following representations from members of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, SIPTU and the contract cleaning industry.
He said serious concern was expressed about the poverty traps which arose from the current treatment of income earned by spouses or partners of certain social welfare recipients. The measures were designed to remove disincentives to work and to improve the position of people on low pay.