Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ionsaí uafásach ar na daoine is laige sa tsochaí seo againne iad na ciorruithe atá beartaithe don íocaíocht teaghlaigh aontuismitheora.

Why has the Minister for Social Protection decided to pick on lone parents? Why has the Government decided to pick on lone parents? Why not pick on the bankers, rack-renting landlords or employers who rip off workers? Most of the legislation coming through the House is an attack on the rights, social entitlements and social protection of ordinary citizens and in defence of the elites.

Most lone parents are women and the record of the Government in defence of women and the rights of women has been pitiable. After four years in power the Government has still not produced the much promised consolidated legislation on domestic violence, nor has it signed the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

Under the Government’s watch the number of children living at risk of poverty and in consistent poverty has doubled. That means at least 135,000 children are experiencing material deprivation on a daily basis. According to Tom Healy of the Nevin Economic Research Institute:

Deprivation is measured by the incidence of households who lack two or more of a list of basic needs such as two pairs of shoes, a strong overcoat, meat or fish meal every second day, going without heating. In the case of lone parents deprivation rates increased from 50% in 2012 to 63% in 2013.

That happened under the Government's watch.

In addition, the number of homeless children in Dublin has now surpassed 1,000. When the cut we are discussing is introduced tomorrow, all those difficulties will be exasperated for lone-parent families. That is not the troika's fault. Neither is it the fault of lone parents. It is solely the responsibility of the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, and those who will vote against the Private Members’ motion. That is the decision which Government party Deputies will take. It is as if the Government considers lone parents are somehow to blame for their circumstances and that they need to be forced into work or education, and away from what Labour calls “welfare dependency”, a phrase straight out of Margaret Thatcher’s handbook. It is a very insulting view of lone parents.

There are an estimated 12,000 families, including many in my own constituency of Louth, who now face significant cuts of up to €86 per week. Many will be deeply affected by the cut to the allowance. Such a Thatcherite view of the world ignores the valuable social and economic role lone parents make in raising their children. The Government made a firm commitment that it would not introduce the measure unless affordable child care and after-school care was available. That has not happened. The Minister promised not to proceed unless a Scandinavian model of child care was in place. One could ask where it is. Even on that basis, the Government should not proceed. It is another broken promise.

I listened with bemusement and sometimes irritation to Government party Deputies drawing on untruthful examples from the North to vindicate their shameful policies in this State. That is partitionism of the worst kind. It is also generally a misrepresentation of Sinn Féin’s role in the governance of the North. We stand as firmly against austerity there as we do here. Both the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, and Deputy Joanna Tuffy are old enough to remember that Sinn Féin has a proud record of standing up for people’s rights in the North against British militarism and Unionist misrule without any support whatsoever from the establishment parties in this State. The system is not perfect for lone parents in the North. I do not want to see a system that is perpetuated North and South. I want to see a united Ireland and a real republic.

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