Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said earlier this week that she had spoken to a number of lone parents about these changes, but I have been in direct and indirect communication with several hundred lone parents and not one of them has spoken in favour of the reforms or changes she is proposing. I have one simple question for the Minister. In this House on 18 April 2012 she promised single parent families that she would not trigger the change to be introduced in July until such time as the country had a Scandinavian-type system of child care. As she knows as well as I do that there is no Scandinavian-style child care system in place in this country, is she intending to renege on her commitment to single parents and, if so, why?

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