Enda Kenny's defended a controversial cut to a social welfare payment for single parents.

The eligibility criteria for the One Parent Family Payment will be changed next month so that parents no longer qualify once their youngest child turns 7.

The move has been planned for several years, but the government said it would not kick in until extra childcare facilities were in place.

But this afternoon Enda Kenny says the cut will give single parents an incentive to take on more paid work: