Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I will try not to repeat what other speakers said. Earlier, when I joined the protesters outside the gates, I met a young woman who told me she had been looking forward to returning to work in January until she worked out the figures and discovered she would only gain €20 extra in so doing. The Minister is forcing lifestyle choices on women who are in the main the parent in one-parent families as to whether they should go back to work. This proposal should be reversed and the Minister should stand outside with the people who elected her to defend them. She is forcing a lifestyle choice on women. Shame on her. Members of her party should vote against the Bill, in particular the proposed cut to one-parent family allowance.

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