Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government stated that the measures which reduced the upper age limit to seven years would only occur when there was a credible system of child care in place.

The Tánaiste emphasised that if this was not forthcoming, the Government would not proceed with the measures. The question then arises of where is this safe, affordable and accessible child care and where is this equivalent of the Scandinavian model. It is nowhere to be seen, not for any family, much less for struggling lone-parent families. The Tánaiste knows this and she now blatantly disregards a concrete commitment made by her, of her own volition, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh said. That commitment was categoric, not hedged by any equivocation and absolute. It was made to lone-parent families but, now, the Tánaiste openly, brazenly and recklessly breaks that promise, with absolutely no regard for the consequences for those families.

We all know that parenting is a full-time job. God knows, it is difficult when there are two parents on hand. Consider how much more difficult it can be and is for people parenting alone, looking after one or more children without that additional support, not to mention not having the comfort of knowing there is that second partner to back them up, to stand by them and to contribute economically.

Where a lone parent is lucky enough to have a job and a decent living wage, which is not always the case, that extra income improves the quality of life for lone parents and their families. That is why so many lone parents are anxious to work and why so many do work. Yet, this measure, which the Tánaiste tries to hype up as a labour activation initiative, will in fact penalise those parents who are at work. Within my own constituency and community, I know many women who now, with the Tánaiste's cut, will be left with no option but to back away from work. Therefore, far from activating labour and opening new opportunities to lone parents, who are mainly women, the Tánaiste is in fact shutting them down.

If it is the Tánaiste's goal to encourage lone parents to take up work, then I suggest that she sticks to her promises and stops sticking it to lone parents. I commend this motion to the House. I would ask every Deputy, from both sides, to support the motion, especially those on the Labour benches who have, I understand, expressed their concerns on these measures at this time and on previous occasions. I would ask them and the Tánaiste to think long and very hard about what they are doing, and to think about the thousands of one-parent families they are undoubtedly condemning to poverty. Remember the concrete promise the Tánaiste made and live up to that.

That is the request not just of Sinn Féin or of Deputies on the Opposition benches. It is the plea - in fact, it is the demand - that has been made of the Tánaiste from single-parent families across the State. I think they would want the Tánaiste to know they are not soft targets. If the Tánaiste has perhaps made a cynical political calculation, she might find that her calculation was wrong and that she will have a mighty lobby and a mighty force waiting for her and her colleagues on the Government benches when they finally go to the people.

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