Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have lost count of how many times I have had to come in here to challenge galling cutbacks that this Government seems content to introduce. It does not get any easier to watch Fine Gael and the Labour Party implementing such savage cuts. In fact, it gets harder because as the reality of what the Government decides on paper in here comes knocking on the doors of ordinary families across this State, the increasing effects of successive cuts are unavoidable. These cutbacks affect all walks of lives, all generations and all communities across our society. The real-life consequences are life-changing, heart-breaking and often that one cut too far that turns basic living for families into a daily struggle to survive. The Sinn Féin motion is another attempt to make this Government act on its sheer lack of basic compassion. It is another attempt to try to alert the Government to the impact of its actions.

This cut to lone parents is going to be another cut that plunges families further into inescapable poverty. It will cripple single mothers and single fathers with unbearable child care costs and it will mean that, for many, life as they know it will change for the worse. However, this is not the first time the Government has picked on vulnerable lone parents. Some 11,000 lone parents have already been affected by gradual reductions in their payments. These cuts have caused unimaginable hardship for lone-parent families, 63% of whom are struggling to afford the basic necessities. However, the Government has once again managed to outdo itself and the next round of cuts to lone parents will impact on 30,000 families.

Where does the Government expect these lone parents to get the money to pay the extortionate child care costs? The Tánaiste promised that these cuts would not be implemented until child care was affordable and after-school care was made available. That has not happened. It is sad to see just how much the Tánaiste's promises are worth. I wonder whether the Government has any idea just how crippling child care costs actually are. Given the cost of child care, it often becomes the case that two-parent families are in full-time work with one wage being solely to cover the cost of someone to look after the children. It can be the case that the child care burden is left to an aging grandparent or an older sibling and it is often the case that it is not economical for families to have both parents at work, so the second parent has to stay at home.

In my own constituency of Donegal North-East, to give one example although I could give many, I know of a hardworking young couple, a construction worker and a nurse with two young children who could only afford for one parent to work because of crippling child care costs. It did not make sense for both of them to work and they were not lucky enough to have a relative living close by to give them a helping hand. What happens in those cases where there is no second parent? What happens to single mothers and fathers who cannot afford to pay someone to look after the children? The cut to their allowance will mean that staying at home will be the only viable option. Does the Government expect lone parents to leave their livelihood behind and stay at home to live off welfare? I would hope that this is not something the Government is advocating because apart from the fact that such support is inadequate for families to live off, the mental health and economic implications are far from ideal.

The Tánaiste must see that is the reality of these cutbacks. She has tied the hands of our lone parents and is guiding them into a bleak and unsustainable future. Lone-parent households were a priority for Sinn Féin in our alternative budget last year. Cutbacks are not the way to go in helping these families. What is needed is an increase to the earnings disregard on the one-parent family payment scheme, increases to fuel allowance, FIS, the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and the restoration of some dignity to lone parents. The Tánaiste should consider what she is doing here. The cuts to the lone parents allowance must be reversed. If she was to abandon her plans, she would receive nothing but support. Stop bullying some of our most vulnerable citizens and give them a chance. Lone parent families have been through enough without enduring the further hardship these cuts will cause. I urge the Tánaiste to remember that what she decides here on paper has real-life consequences for vulnerable families in this State.

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