Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to one or two points that were made in the debate. Deputy Curran referred to the fact that due to some of the changes we made since 2012, the jobseeker's transitional, JST, payment may be a better payment for some people than the working family payment. He is correct, but it is not something we in the Department see as a difficulty because in those cases the JST payment will offer a higher total income to the lone parent than the working family payment. It will allow them to balance the work and to care for their children in a more flexible way, but it will also give them access to tailored activation supports such as education and training courses to which they might not have had access, and it assists them towards achieving what we want which is a job, a better job and a career for those in that section of society.

Deputy Curran also made reference to the requirement to seek to obtain maintenance for lone parents who have been victims of domestic violence. The changes have been made. The circular was issued yesterday. The training is just about to commence with Women’s Aid. We are not blind to the cases that have been brought to our attention. I acknowledge the efforts of Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, SPARK, in highlighting the issue. We have listened and we have very much changed our policy.

I am not sure whether it was Deputy Funchion or Deputy Louise O'Reilly who made the point but I wish to clarify that the current position with regard to means assessment of maintenance is that all maintenance is in fact assessed as means. Where the lone parent has a housing cost the disregard is applied of €95.23 per week and the balance is assessed at only 50%. That often results in no reduction in the payment of lone parents' payments, or if there is a reduction it is incredibly small.

The work is not finished. The recommendations that were made in the report were not all completed in the previous budget. We are not going to be finished until we find ourselves in a position where we have a much higher employment rate among lone parents and that the 218,000 families have a level of income whether it comes from supports and transfers from the State and employment or full employment, and that they finally receive the respect and dignity they deserve from this country and its citizens.

I agree with the ladies in the House who made reference to the view that has prevailed for far too long in this country. It does not just come from religious organisations, politicians or the media because the narrative has crept into the psyche of what I would classify as normal people, who have an incredibly wrong view that reflects on society, that we make it too easy for women to be single mothers. People have a disgraceful and shameful view that women choose to be single mothers, as if we go around at 17 or 18 years and target some poor unsuspecting young fellow so that we can get a house or get a buggy. Holy God. There are very few things that make my blood boil but this is one of them. Throughout the history of the State we have had religious orders deal with women when they got pregnant that put them in homes to hide them away. Families acquiesced to that where they should not have. We have reached a stage now where we think we are modern, politically correct, and great as it is the 21st century yet we still have radio stations castigating women because people think they are throwing their leg over because it is some sort of a better lifestyle.

I am the mother of four children and I have a husband. He is deadly, and I would not have this job only for the support he gives me. However, by Jove, being a mother with a husband is bloody hard and I cannot even begin to countenance what it must be like to be a mother on one's own and to have all of the financial burdens, emotional burdens and everything else that goes along with rearing a family. Could we all agree – all parties and none – that today it stops – the castigating, stereotyping and stigmatising of the women who are the backbone of this country? That is no disrespect to the lads. The women who rear families support the Social Insurance Fund by rearing the children who become the workers of this country who pay to support pensions. Could we stop with the historical bullshit of being incredibly rude, disrespectful and undignified towards the women of this country because it is intolerable?

We are now in the 21st century. Different families of different shapes and sizes deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and supported by the State. Whether they are blended families, single families or foster families, it does not matter. Everybody deserves the dignity and respect of being treated by the State as a human being, but we must take responsibility for the stigmatisation and stereotyping because it is not just politicians, the media and some religious organisations. It seeps into the psyche of every single normal person and it will only be changed through the changes in Government policy and by all of us standing up together to say that we will not tolerate it anymore and by educating people to say that the lot of lone parents is a bloody difficult one. Not everybody gets to see ESRI reports or SILC reports we all trawl through every weekend for our sins, but we need to be able to show the difficulty and supports and services that will allow independent women and men who are rearing their families alone to receive the education, training, financial transfers and supports so that they can get a job, a better job, and a career. That is responsible and incumbent upon all of us.

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