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

This morning the Society of St. Vincent de Paul published its Working, Parenting and Struggling report, which is an analysis of the employment and living conditions of one-parent families in Ireland. Its findings are an indictment of the Government's record on poverty prevention and alleviation among single parent families, many of whom are at work. The report finds that one in 11 working lone parents were living below the poverty line in 2012 but that number had jumped to one in five in 2017. The high cost of housing and childcare combined with low levels of income are making it impossible for families to make ends meet. The report finds that the living standards of lone parents in this State are among the worst in Europe. We have the second highest rate of income poverty, persistent poverty and severe deprivation among 15 other EU states. That is shocking. What is most shocking, however, is that the majority of one-parent families, the vast majority of whom are headed by women, are in work. These families are like others. They are people who get up at the crack of dawn but who still struggle and fail to meet their own and their families' basic needs. Our cost of living crisis is leaving hundreds of thousands of people struggling and living in fear of any extra financial burden like a car breaking down or a washing machine packing it in. These are people who work hard to provide for their families. They have a modest aspiration for a decent, happy life but they cannot plan for their future. How can they plan when they cannot make ends meet in the here and now?

Low pay, especially in the context of the soaring cost of living, is the real problem. Workers on low wages, in many cases in insecure employment, are being asked to find money to pay for extortionate rents, crazy insurance premia and crushing childcare costs. It is not good enough to brush all of this aside, as the Taoiseach does frequently, with the promise of a meagre tax relief at an ill-defined point in the future. These families do not need a handout but a hand up in the here and now. These are people who work and who want to continue working to give their families and their children a better life. What does the Taoiseach propose to do in the here and now to address the cost of living crisis that is crippling these families? When will he introduce a living wage?

See this speech in context