child maintenance

hi,
i'm a single mother of a 2 year old son, recieving opfp, I am finding things a real struggle financially. My son is in creche 2 half days a week to allow him to interact with other children his own age and his father pays for half of this wich is 20 euros. he does not however pay towards anything else for his son. I have been told by friends and family to go for child maintanance but sometimes the father works and then he might not work for months and be on benefit. i am worried that if i do this i could lose the little that he does pay towards the creche,
also i know that my opfp will allow me to keep half of any maintainance but how does it work with rent allowance, i am so worried about ending up worse off again when i'm struggling already.
any advice would be much appreciated.
kayla

Kayla you ARE entitled to maintenance. It is a basic law that the father MUST pay maintenance.
It's not an easy path fighting for any of these things but one you must take. It matters not whether he works or claims benefits a court will decide how much (I think minimum is 50 euro ) they will arrange to have it taken out of his dole money and direct to you.
Yes it will knock on both your lpa and your ra but you will not be worse off. It may not appear so at first but it will all balance out.
Is it possible to talk to your ex perhaps and tell him you're considering going this route ? see what he says ?
Go seek out legal aid now as sometimes their waiting list is very long. Doing that now at least puts you on a list and gives you time to think.
Good luck.

The Dept of Social and Famiily Affairs (DSFA) will allow you up to €95.23 per week from an maintenance received without affecting your One Parent Family Payment (OFP), if you are paying rent or mortgage. This is because some of the maintenance is seen as a contribution towards accommodation for the child(ren).

Maintenance in excess of €95.23pw is assessable at 50% - i.e. every €2 you receive in maintenance over €95.23 pw is counted as €1 means.

Because DSFA allow you to offset maintenance against your rent, Rent Supplement Payments will most likely be affected. I suggest you talk to your CWO for full details on how any payments might affect what you currently receive.

I was in court yesterday with my babies father about maintanance. He was ordered to pay €30 a week because he is in fas so you will probably get the same outcome as me. its not really very helpful as it will more than likely come out of my lone parent.