Groups representing lone parents have hit out at cumulative cuts in this year’s budget saying they will result in more families being pushed into poverty.
Chief executive of Treoir Margaret Dromey said while changes to the means test, back-to-school allowance, rent supplement and increases in utility bills may be small, taken together, they mean lone parent families are going to “suffer greatly”.
She said with almost two-thirds of children who live in consistent poverty living in households headed by a lone-parent more are in danger of falling into the poverty trap.
On Monday, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said changes reducing the age of the one parent family payment from 14 to 12 in 2012, 10 in 2013 and seven in 2014 would bring Ireland’s support for lone parents “more in line with that provided internationally”.
However, Ms Dromey said other countries have services in place "like good childcare, good training, good education so you are not comparing like with like".
Ms Dromey also said the department needs to clarify what will happen when lone parents are moved onto the jobseekers allowance.
Stuart Duffin of One Family said Budget 2012 is “squarely placing the burden on the shoulders of the vulnerable”.
“What we are seeing is income being reduced, the conditions of lone parent payments being altered and the impact of that will be quite substantial,” he added.
Mr Duffin called for a change in the qualifying criteria for jobseekers allowance to include those seeking part-time and more flexible working arrangements so lone-parents will not discriminated against.
Supporting the plea United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the Budget is a “vindictive attack” on the “poor young women and their children”.
Mr Boyd Barrett said the reduction over five years of the income disregard for one-parent families from €146.50 to €60 per week is “one of the most nasty and significant measures” in the budget.
“It is choking off the avenue through which single parents can get out of poverty and back into the work force,” he said.
