Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Deputies for their wide ranging and thoughtful contributions. I appreciate Deputy Boyd Barrett was just using language and I accept he did not mean to cast any aspiration on lone parents. All of us share a huge admiration for the achievements of parents including those parenting on their own. Those of us who are parents know just how tough, messy and difficult it is whether one is in a couple or on one's own. Most of us have a shared experience. I have spent much time in the United States and I know many people in radical politics there but I never heard the term. It sounds more like a Tea Party term. I do not know who the Deputy's friends are in the United States or from where he gets his language but he should not bring it here.

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