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

This week, the Tánaiste will take up to €87 a week from more than 10,000 single parent families. This is the eighth successive cut she has inflicted on lone-parent families. The vast majority of these parents, as she knows, are women. Many are in low-paid and insecure jobs, many more are living in or at risk of poverty, and all struggle to raise their children in challenging circumstances.

In 2012, the Tánaiste promised that this cut was dependent on "there being a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care in place, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries". She said very definitively that without affordable and accessible child care, "the measure will not proceed". The average cost of child care is currently €167 a week, and higher again in Dublin. In many communities, child care is just not available. When Fianna Fáil cut child benefit, the Tánaiste said this was anti-woman and her party said it highlighted the lack of influence of women in Cabinet. Yet, here we are, with Deputy Burton in government and second in command, introducing a measure that is both anti-woman and anti-child.

Why has the Tánaiste broken her solemn commitment that, in the absence of accessible and affordable child care, she would not introduce this cut? Will she, even at this late stage, reverse this cruel and unjust decision to push thousands of one-parent families into poverty?

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