Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Saying lone parents are now only two and a half times at greater risk of poverty, compared to four and a half times at some point in the past, is quite irrelevant. This report is bald and it is brutal. It states that of all groups in society, the group that suffered the highest consistent rate of poverty in 2014 was lone parents, at a rate of 22.1%. It found those living in households with one adult and one or more children, that is, lone parents, had the highest deprivation rate, at 58.7% in 2014. It found single parents had the highest at-risk-of-poverty rate, of 32%, in 2014. There were a number of other interesting findings about their ownership of property, such as the fact that 42.1% of lone parent households are credit-constrained. As I understand it, the gist of the Minister's reply is that she is taking measures that will enable lone parents to improve their situation relative to the rest of society. I agree with the statement that the best way to assist somebody in poverty is to assist them into work, but they are all worse off now, so how do we encourage people to take up a job by ensuring they will be less well off than before by taking up that job? This is what we were warned about and what I have discussed with lone parents who have transferred over to the Minister's new system since,

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