Sir, - I don't know whether Roisin Shortall or Kathryn Holmquist read all of Tony McCashin's study on lone parents, although it is quoted in The Irish Times article recently concerning Ms Shortall's views of lone parent families. Perhaps they missed the bit which indicated that the vast majority of the women in the study, who were single when they became pregnant, were in employment.
So much for the social welfare, pot of gold theory of pregnancy. The really interesting question is why such young women would not be able to remain in employment, and are forced out of the work force and into dependency on the State. Yours, etc.,
Harmonstown,
Dublin 5.