Paddy, clearly you aimed this at me and I will respond to this.
Nobody is making any allegations to the contrary, however, the point you are missing is that while this is in no doubt true, the mother of the child turned to the state for assistance and in doing so, she set off a chain of events.
Your friend and his wife split up, they attended mediation where his income, her income and expenditure in relation to the costs of a child's upbringing were taken into consideration.
The agreed amount was €80 per week.
What would also have been agreed was access - how many nights/weekends the non primary carer should/would have.
In your OP you said that his wife had cut back her working hours (And we really don't know why) and applied to the SW for "assistance".
When you look for assistance from the state, then you are claiming that you cannot live on your income.
When she applied for assistance they sent her this application form:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/pdf/ofp1.pdf
Page 11 asks for all the details of the other parent (your friend), the name of his employer his earnings and a copy of a maintenance order, or in this case, the mediation agreement.
According to the law:
"Men and women are required by law to maintain their dependants. Maintenance can be paid voluntarily or as a result of a maintenance order granted by the courts. More information about how to apply for and enforce maintenance is available in our document 'Maintenance orders and agreements'."
Your friends wife sought assistance from the state and the state had all the details of your friends income and the details of the maintenance agreement.
The state are responding to a request for assistance from your friends wife and because both she and your friend are required to maintain their child, and based on your friends income and the maintenance he pays, they want him to contribute more.
The SW received their information from his wife, they received a copy of the agreement which states that he pays €80 per week maintenance. The child's "day to day" needs would have been assessed during mediation.
I have to point out here also, that you said your friend sometimes spent €100 per week on these "day to day" needs. How could it be that your friend needs €100 per week to do what the mother has to do with €80?
When assessing maintenance the following expenditure is taken into consideration:
"Basics Food ¤ Clothing/shoes/nappies ¤ (including laundry) ¤
Baby-sitter/child minding ¤ Education School/college fees ¤ Transport ¤ Books/Uniform ¤ Extra Tuition/curricular ¤ Contribution to school ¤ Travel Petrol ¤ Bus/train fares ¤ Medical Expenses G P/ Hospital ¤ Dental ¤ Chemist ¤ Special needs (e.g. diet) ¤ Medical Insurance ¤ Housing Extra Rent ¤ Mortgage repayments ¤ ESB/Gas ¤ Heating expenses ¤ Telephone ¤ Other Holidays/outings ¤ Birthdays/Christmas/Gifts ¤ Life insurance ¤ Other"
It is not up to the SW to assess the existing maintenance or to take how many nights he takes the child, nor what he spends above his maintenance, that has been dealt with in mediation.
But if his wife has sought assistance from them and provided them with all the information relating to maintenance and his income, then they are absolutely right to seek a bigger contribution from him.
I hope that clarifies some issues for you.
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