Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Our spend in early childhood education is 0.2% of GDP whereas the European average is 0.7% of GDP. This puts it in a nutshell. We are straggling behind almost all developed countries in our investment in this vital sector.

The cuts to lone parents without a proper structure of supports will cause devastation and bedlam for the vast majority. The child care to enable many of these parents to work more hours is unaffordable. The fact that they are faced with a reduction of approximately €80 per week will force low-income lone parent families to choose between poverty, that is to say, living on welfare alone or working in poverty by doing low-wage part-time work, which is both anti-care and anti-family.

Recent research and studies have shown that the levels of poverty and deprivation have increased significantly for some in the recession. The survey of income and living conditions 2013 report shows that 23% of one-parent families with dependent children are in constant poverty, over three times as many as in the general population. Instead of encouraging and incentivising parents into the workforce, the Government has drastically reduced the amount these people can earn before these heavy welfare supports are factored in. Rather than getting away from the politics of recession we are renewing a further episode of these policies, even when the Government is optimistic for the future. That makes it all the more difficult to comprehend. Thus, 1,500 parents have one-parent family allowances when their children reach seven years of age. Next month another 40,000 parents are to be reclassified as jobseekers. They will lose out on the income disregard and move into other traditional family supports.

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