Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was privileged this morning to attend the press launch by SPARK, single parents acting for the rights of kids, announcing a major protest at 3.30 p.m. tomorrow outside the gates of Leinster House against the proposed savage cuts by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, on one-parent families. This protest is in response to the most gendered cut in the history of the State as 98% of those on the one-parent family payment are women. Forty thousand lone-parent families are due to lose their entitlement this year once their youngest child is over seven. From this July, through no fault of their own, one-parent families will lose up to €80 a week. It is a fact that 65% of the least well-off and poorest children in Ireland live in one-parent families. The savage cut of €80 a week is as much as taking the bread for these children off the table.

I call on the Tánaiste, Deputy Joan Burton, not to proceed with these planned cuts until improvements in affordable child care are in place such that they will enable women to participate socially and economically and, in so doing, develop their potential. As a member of Amnesty International, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Tánaiste, Deputy Joan Burton, would come into this House to discuss the savage cuts she is proposing for these women and children.