Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The survey on income and living conditions, SILC, is often quoted in this House and was released in April 2014. It confirmed that one-parent families are those most at risk of poverty, with the highest consistent poverty rate, at 17.4%, a rate of deprivation of 49.5%, and nearly 30% of families are at risk of poverty. However, the Minister cannot give a simple answer about whether she is going ahead with a cut in the social welfare rate for one-parent families from €90 to €75 for the income disregard. This was indicated last year for January of next year. It is a simple question. Is the Minister going ahead with this? If so, does she understand that it contradicts what she said on budget day that there would be no reductions in social welfare rates in 2015?

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