The Social Welfare Bill is a "huge let-down" which won't do anything for job creation, Fine Gael has claimed.
The party's spokeswoman on social protection Olwyn Enright said that the Bill would impose "penalties without prospects" and said lone parents are being "singled out" as an "easy option"
The Government was criticised yesterday for publishing the proposed legislation on a Friday evening.
Ms Enright said this evening the legislation "fails to deliver" on promises for a PRSI holiday for employers taking on new staff, despite the fact she said, it was "supposed to be in the Bill".
Ms Enright also attacked the ommission of home heating relief which, she said, was promised to offset the Government’s carbon tax.
Referring to the proposed change to the one-parent family payment, Ms Enright said lone parents are also "being singled out as the easy option". She said there was "no rational explanation for this measure, apart from saving money".
Single parents whose youngest child is over 13 will no longer be able to claim one-parent family payments under the terms of new social welfare legislation published last evening. The payment is currently paid to a parent until the youngest child reaches 18, or 22, if the child is in full-time education.
Ms Enright said Minister Ó Cuív "fails to offer any real way to help lone parents to get training or education" in return for the loss of several years of one parent family payments.
Siptu General President Jack O’Connor issued a strongly-worded attack on the Social Welfare Bill this morning, saying nothing highlighted "the sheer intellectual bankruptcy" of the Governmetn more than "the heartless proposals" contained in the new Bill.
Mr O'Connor described the provisions as "reprehensible beyond belief, exhibiting the worst characteristics of the nineteenth century Poor Law regime, penalising the most vulnerable in our society".
He said the Government's plan "to target young unemployed" was "a direct result" of policy reversal on the Government's behalf.
Mr O'Connor said this policy reversal discounted the prospects of balancing the burden of adjustment in society.
Instead, he said a decision was made "to impose the entire €4 billion deficit cut on working people and on those who depend most on public services".
"The Government contemptuously dismissed proposals from the trade union movement and even employers' organisations Ibec and the Construction Industry Council for putting in place a proactive jobs support
strategy", Mr O'Connor said.
"Instead it has embarked on a policy which will leave our young people exposed to the most ruthless and unscrupulous exploitation".
"Their only alternative will be to emigrate, taking with them the skills and potential to rejuvenate our country in the medium term. Of course there is nothing new in this. Enforced emigration is the traditional strategy of Fianna Fail and those on the right", he concluded.
This afternoon, Mr Ó Cuív's office issued a clarification on how the one-parent payment scheme will operate under the new provisions.
Single parents whose youngest child is over 13 will no longer be able to claim one-parent family payments under the terms of new legislation
The department said there will be a "tapered" six-year phasing out period to enable claimants to access education and training, to help prepare them for their return to the labour market.
The age 13 cut-off point will only come in to effect for existing claimants in 2016. For existing claimants, the age 18 cut-off point will remain for 2011 and 2012.
In 2013 it will be 17 years, in 2014, 16 years, in 2015, 15 years and in 2016, 13 years.
The clarification also stated that a special provision is included in the Bill for both married and co-habiting persons who are recently bereaved and who have children aged 13 years or older.
Under the provision, they will continue to receive payments for up to 2 years - or until their child is 18 years old to enable them to come to terms with their changed circumstances.
There were about 90,500 recipients of the payment at the end of last year, a 53 per cent increase since 1997. The total cost of the scheme in 2009 was €1.1 billion, compared to €338 million in 1997.
The payment is made up of a personal rate for the parent of €196 a week with €29.80 for each additional qualified child. The amount depends on the weekly means of the parent.
The Bill will be debated in the Oireachtas before the summer recess in early July.