Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has probably read about the unfortunate things that happened in the past in Ireland in mother and baby homes. Women did not have an opportunity to earn an independent income. The mother and baby homes died out when a former Labour Party predecessor of mine, Frank Cluskey, who was a former Member of the House and Minister, introduced specifically the right for women who were parenting on their own to have an income. As a consequence we had a sea change from the situation where women parenting on their own had to fall back on charity. Women in particular should have capacity and be enabled by the social welfare system, because perhaps having a child early whom they have been looking after on their own meant they may have missed out on education and training. It should in particular make provision and encourage women to be able to take up education and training, as opposed to the legacy issues about which we read and which will be the subject of an inquiry.

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