Sir, - I would like an opportunity to reply to some of the responses to the recent interview which I gave to Kathryn Holmquist concerning children at risk.
Firstly, I would like to make it clear that I most certainly do not believe that child neglect is confined to children of lone parents, nor would I suggest that children of all lone parents are at risk. My particular concern is in relation to children who are born to young single mothers in areas most affected by poverty and government neglect.
At no point did I or would I attempt to attach blame to these young people but rather I lay the blame squarely on successive governments for their failure to tackle the issue of poverty. In this context I said that young lone (unmarried) parenthood is very much endemic to the kind of ghettos which give rise to social problems.
Rather than absolving policy makers for their failure to address the increasing inequalities in our society (as Ms Pamela Conroy suggests I do, letters, November 13th) the whole purpose of the article was to draw attention to these failures. In particular, we fail to provide adequate support for young people in difficult family situations. Neither do we do enough to help them remain in education. In fact, our failure to provide real training opportunities is an indictment of us all.
My other contention is that, as the Colm Rapple report illustrates, we are discriminating against two parent families (whether common law or married) by penalising them financially. As the report shows a couple stands to lose between 30 and 40 per cent of their income if they opt to live together. This in my view is bad public policy. Surely, where children are concerned we should be encouraging their parents to live together as a family unit.
Finally, in reply to John Bennett (letters, November 13th, 1996), could I suggest that he cast aside his blinkers and reread the article so that he sees what I actually said. Attempts at political point scoring add nothing to this debate. Young lone mothers, lone fathers and their children, deserve better. - Yours, etc.,
Dail Eireann,
Baile Atha Cliath 2.