Ms Orla O'Connor:

In the first instance, the National Women's Council says that the budget should protect the incomes of women and children. In addition, systems must be adapted to recognise the reality of the impact of austerity and the recession on women. Within that, our key requests would be that child benefit would remain a universal payment, that the levels would remain the same and that the Government not consider reform until we get out of this recession. Along with that, we have a series of recommendations relating to early childhood care and education. There were clear statements by the Minister for Social Protection, in the context of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, that movement would not be made, particularly with regard to lone parents, until what was called a Scandinavian child care system was put in place. We have not reached that point so we ask that moves be made on early childhood care and education and also proposals regarding changes for lone parents should be halted until that is the case. Another key recommendation is the issue of adapting the social welfare system for people who are working part-time. This is a particular issue for women, who are working far fewer hours now in retail, catering and the other sectors that have been hit. They cannot access social welfare.