Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The entire purpose of this is to ensure a system is put in place to enable lone parents to move out of poverty and get back into the workforce at a time when they can get back into the workforce. It is outrageous that someone with one child could be 22 years out of the workforce under the present scheme. It effectively condemns them to dependency on welfare during their prime working life.

We must acknowledge the absolute importance of the family. It is in the Constitution and in the 1916 Proclamation to cherish all the children of the nation equally. We must at the same time ensure we address the huge challenges facing lone parents in the present system.

It is right to provide the supports we are providing and it is right to improve child care enormously. It is right to ensure benefits are adequate for parents who need them. However, it is also right to liberate women from dependency on child care. A large cohort of people in my and Deputy Mary Lou McDonald's constituency are condemned to a lifetime of welfare dependency largely because they are mothers.

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