Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I am concerned about the cutbacks affecting one-parent families. I was shocked by this socially regressive budget and am still in a state of shock. I am sure the Minister is aware the CSO produced statistics on 13 November that show the increase in inequality of income between the better off and the least well off. There is no question but that anybody in a one-parent family is more likely to be in poverty than anyone in a two-parent family. The reduction of payments for children of single parents on a phased basis from age 14 to age seven is a brutal cut. This cut will have a brutal effect on child care for these families if the parent does not get the full benefit for the child up to the age of 14.