Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the committee, in particular the Chairman, Deputy Curran, and my colleague, Deputy Brady on the report and on the manner in which it addressed this issue. Approximately 25.4%, or one quarter, of families in this country are headed by people who are parenting alone. The lack of attendance for this debate on is disappointing.

There has been much talk in this debate about the facts and the figures. We all know that it is difficult for somebody parenting alone to manage a household. In reality, if that parent is working, there is only one income coming into the household but there is no reduction in household costs such as rent, bin charges and so on. If that person is on a social welfare payment, managing is even more difficult. We need to look at ways of encouraging people back into the workforce or back into education, but we also need to look at the issue of child care costs. I acknowledge the plans to introduce an affordable child care scheme, which is an issue in which I have a huge interest. We need to be a lot more flexible in terms of child care provision. For example, a lone parent who is a nurse will be required to do shift work and, therefore, he or she will be unable to collect a child from a crèche at 5 p.m. We need to look at expanding the affordable child care scheme to childminders so that people have greater access to child care and can return to work or education.

We also need to take on board how difficult it is to parent alone. A lone parent is not only burdened with meeting all of the financial costs of running a home, such as school lunches, oil and money to pay the rent, he or she also takes on all of the emotional aspects of parenting alone. Nobody plans to be a lone parent. It is not anybody's ambition in life to raise children alone. There is very little emotional support available to lone parents. It is embarrassing and degrading for a lone parent to have to go into a social welfare office and inquire about the schemes or payments he or she can access as a lone parent. Many people will not do it. They cannot bring themselves to do it. We need to look at how, through our mental health services, we can help people to have the confidence to apply for their entitlements as a lone parent, including to return to education. Unfortunately, for many the experience of attending a social welfare office is negative. There is still a stigma around lone parenting despite the increasing number of people who are parenting alone. We need to tackle that and to ensure greater access to financial supports. We need more common sense in relation to lone parenting. For example, a child of seven or 14 is not capable of looking after himself or herself and so we need to consider extending the one-parent family allowance. I welcome the increase in the income disregard, but we need to take further similar steps. We also need to examine the emotional aspects of parenting alone. The groups representing lone parents are the experts in this area, and we need to listen to them and to take on board their views.

Our society is changing, and the number of lone parents is increasing rather than decreasing. We need to look at how realistically we can support people so that they can reach their full potential and their children can reach their full potential. We also need to do support these people to ensure that children are not going to school hungry and they able to access the extracurricular activities that other children can access. There is a gap in the system in terms of equality for children, which is unfair and wrong. We need to examine the financial aspects of lone parenting and lone parents' access to education and the workforce. We also need to examine the emotional aspects of it. Much of what was said by Deputy Brady about maintenance payments and the establishment of an agency in that regard would remove the stress and tension of the courts system for lone parents. We need to consider issues like that and to support and encourage our lone parents.

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