Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important matter. I thank Sinn Féin, and specifically Deputy Brady, for moving this motion.

As we all know, what starts out as a loving relationship between a young couple can often turn sour even before the birth of a baby. A young person can find himself or herself in a predicament very quickly, with a happy-go-lucky life turned into something onerous and tough as he or she tries to raise a child on his or her own. We need to do whatever we can for lone parents, who do Trojan work raising their children and are so protective. We know that, in the early years especially, the mother cannot go out to work because she has to mind the baby. She needs every support. That is what the motion is concerned with, namely, ensuring that lone parents get the support to which they are entitled.

Children are valuable. They are our future and we need to protect them. They are defenceless and cannot fend for themselves. In the cases in question, they are depending on a single parent. In many instances, there are not other family members to help. The grandparents are not around, for example, because they are too far away. A lone parent should not have thrown on him or her the requirement to prove legally the question of whether the other parent has the ability to pay. Proving that costs time and money, but lone parents do not have time when they are trying to mind their little babies and small children. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection should ensure that these lone parents are properly seen after. The one-parent family payment was cut a few years ago and has not been restored since. Many lone parents are struggling. I appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, not to oppose the motion. We must look after vulnerable young people, as they are our future.

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