Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are 5,631 single parents in this country currently relying on the working family payment and the one parent family payment. These single parents are entitled to claim both payments if they meet both sets of qualifying criteria. As the Taoiseach is aware, single parents are already at a much higher risk of poverty. These payments are vital to allow families clothe and feed their children and pay for all the day-to-day expenses that come with children. However, when the youngest child in these families reaches the age of seven, these 5,631 families risk falling off a financial cliff. When their youngest reaches this age, a single parent will lose their one parent family payment. Most people who no longer qualify for a one parent family payment will then transfer to the jobseeker's transitional payment. However, working family payment is not payable with jobseeker's transitional payment, leading to a substantial cut in income for these families. As the research tells us, these families are already vulnerable to increases in the cost of living, the cost of eating, the cost of just keeping the show on the road. What does the Taoiseach propose to do to support these families?

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