“Cowen can’t begin to understand the struggle of the worst off in this country”

Aimee is a lone parent in her twenties. She is unemployed and relies on single parent allowance.

My initial reaction to the budget speech was one of confusion – Mr Lenihan often spoke in riddles and kept the details of cuts made for the unemployed and low income earners very vague. It was as if he was trying to show off the huge sacrifices higher earners in public offices will be making.  May I just mention that the cap of €250,000 per annum is still more than our neighbours’ wages and that of other countries!

Aimee says that she relies entirely on  the One Parent Family Payment to pay all her family’s expenses.

I’ll looking at an over-all cut of about €14 per week, which may sound modest enough but VAT will be going up and the cost of living – despite what government sources may be saying – is rising.  With my current payment I have nothing left at the end of the week by the time I pay bills, rent, loan and buy my weeks groceries.

She says that the day-to-day future for her and her daughter is uncertain:

I fear that I’m not going to be able to put enough food on the table for my daughter and myself. I am more than willing to work but with the extortionate costs of childcare in this country it’s pretty much out of the question.

In the long-term, Aimee says her prospects to gain a higher level of education have dimmed because of the government’s approach:

I would love to return to college and achieve a degree but its out of the question what with the lack of supports out there for single parents returning to third level education – not to mention the €2,000 registration fee. For some reason I doubt that Brian Cowen’s €14,000 yearly pay cut is going to make him suffer anything like, or even begin to understand, the struggle that the worst off in this country are going to experience.

Read how single person in full time employment feels about the budget >