Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What does the Government have against lone parents? On 2 July next, lone parents working more than 19 hours per week will lose the one-parent family payment when their youngest child turns seven years of age. Up to 32,000 families will be affected by this measure and in many cases their incomes will be slashed by up to €80 per week. By any yardstick or objective analysis, this is a cruel and brutal cut. The Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, has been persistent and consistent in reducing the age threshold for this payment. It was reduced from 14 to 12 years in 2012 and to ten years in 2013 and is now being reduced to seven years. When one takes into consideration that the deprivation rate among lone parents is 230% higher than it is among the general population and 33% higher than it is among those who are unemployed, this measure amounts to a serious attack on the quality of life of lone parents.

The implication from the commentary emanating from the Government and Minister for Social Protection is that lone parents are somehow not doing anything at home when they are looking after children or in part-time employment. The measure is appalling by any standards. The Minister promised the various activist groups that she would not introduce it until a Scandinavian model of child care had been put in place. One newspaper columnist - I believe it was Victoria White - made the telling point that the nearest thing we have to a Scandinavian child care model is the drop-off facility at IKEA stores.

It is insulting to argue that this measure will move people into employment because the proposed cut comes on top of many other cuts introduced in successive budgets. For example, the income disregard for lone parents who secure employment was reduced from €147 to €90, lone parents were effectively barred from vocational education committee and community employment schemes which act as a gateway back into employment and changes were made in the second payment allowance. I ask the Taoiseach, in the interests of social justice and equality, to show a degree of solidarity by not proceeding with this measure and reversing the policy on which the Minister for Social Protection has embarked, which targets and treats one-parent families in a most cruel manner.

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