Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The figures show that for lone parents who are in work, the consistent poverty rates are much lower than for lone parents not in work, at 10%. The impact of social transfers in Ireland is significant. Furthermore, in the last budget I increased child benefit, introduced the back to work family dividend and reintroduced the family Christmas bonus, which was very strongly welcomed by lone parents. The figures show that for a lone parent who is in work, the risk of poverty is much lower than for a lone parent who is out of work.

In most countries, the transition from being solely defined as a lone parent happens when the child reaches the age of five or earlier, whereas in Ireland the transition begins at seven years of age and there is a seven year transition period while, as a country, we address the child care issues that we must address.

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