Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the amendment, we are talking about lone parents and the fact that we are reforming the one-parent family system to bring it into line with the best such systems that operate in other European countries. I took a particular category of lone parent - namely, a lone parent looking after a child with a disability - and pointed out, reasonably, that such a person is not, as the Deputy was suggesting, required to go out and find work. The fact that the person is a carer is fully recognised by the staff in every social welfare office of the Department of Social Protection.

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