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IN DECEMBER 2011, Ireland was still on a belt-tightening exercise and it was hard to imagine economic growth. Nobody expected that the Budget that year would be anything other than tough – and it was. Budget 2012 introduced a variety of ways to provide less in public services whilst extracting as much revenue from citizens as possible. It was incredibly difficult, but overall as a country, we took it on the chin. We had to. We all did what we had to do to get by, and now government is speaking about a new era of prosperity.
Why, then, is one group of people in Ireland still being targeted by reform policies that are resulting in even greater poverty and hardship? Why is the harsh thinking of sacrifice continuing only for families who are poor enough to be on social welfare and who are supplementing this by working part-time in low paid jobs as currently permitted? Why are these people having their modest amounts of earned income taken from them? I am writing, of course, about recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP).
11,000 parents will immediately lose income today
Today, 25 June, is the last day of the One-Parent Family Payment for anyone whose youngest child is aged seven. Over 30,000 parents are being moved off social welfare or onto other payments, predominantly the Jobseeker’s Transition Allowance and Jobseekers’ Allowance Payment. Approximately 11,000 of these parents will immediately lose income, money they can badly afford to lose. Parents report losses to One Family’s helpline ranging from over €100 to €30 per week which is a huge amount of money.
There are over 215,000 one-parent families in Ireland today from all kinds of backgrounds and circumstances. Men and women can become lone parents because of separation, divorce or abandonment. Many may have experienced traumas such as domestic violence, abuse and bereavement. At the time this process of reform was introduced, just over 90,000 of these families were in receipt of the OFP. Years of cuts have led to one-parent families being those with the highest levels of consistent poverty with 63% of individuals from these households experiencing one or more forms of deprivation (EU-SILC 2013). This reform will lead to even more families experiencing poverty.
Counterproductive to the government’s own policy
Yet government’s thinking behind this reform process is to connect parents to the labour market via education, and to move them from a passive reliance on social welfare to independence; presumably free of poverty in the labour market. However, the reality is that many will now have to give up their part-time jobs as they will lose money due to different criteria on their new payment. Unless parents can work 19 hours per week they will lose out and this is just not possible for many people. This requirement is counter-productive to government’s own policy and will, of course, cause thousands of children to live in deeper levels of poverty.
We would all be forgiven for not knowing that government does actually have targets in place to reduce child poverty but they do. The national policy framework for children and young people 2014-2020 Better Outcomes Brighter Futures commits government to ‘lift over 70,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020, a reduction of at least two-thirds on the 2011 level.’ Despite this, rates of child poverty have risen sharply in recent years particularly for poor children in one-parent families.
Whilst one section of the Department of Social Protection is busy moving parents onto payments that will cut their modest incomes, another section is tasked with working to lower child poverty rates. They certainly can’t be accused of making it easy for themselves, or for parents or children.
A lack of affordable, quality childcare
One of the big problems for all parents, but most particularly lone parents, is the lack of affordable, quality childcare. Our childcare costs in Ireland are second only to those in the US. Children and young people cannot and should not be left alone to fend for themselves. For a person parenting alone, there is just one income available to meet all household, accommodation and childcare costs. It partially explains why so many one-parent families survive on the verge of homelessness. Most families in emergency accommodation today are one-parent families.
One Family has been saying for years that this reform of the One-Parent Family Payment will fail if there is not affordable, quality childcare and out-of-school care; if access to education and training is not greatly improved; if all the relevant departments and agencies don’t work together in a coordinated way; if policies don’t support the connection between parents and the workplace; and if employers don’t offer family-friendly careers. Sadly none of this has been done and we are being proven right.
Child poverty has become a major issue
Meanwhile we will continue to meet and speak with policy-makers – government and opposition TDs, civil servants, advisors and Ministers. Whilst some on the Labour back benches are rightly wary of the impact these reforms are having on their constituents, others continue to blindly defend the policies and their leader. Many government TDs were not interested in hearing about our concerns and the problems they are causing for their constituents but we appreciate those who are.
Child poverty has to become the major issue for our next government, whoever they might be. It is up to all of us to make sure that all politicians standing for election are fully committed to lowering child poverty and understand the measures that need to be taken to achieve this. Otherwise we will condemn another generation of our children to a life of poverty, lost potential and missed opportunities.
Karen Kiernan is CEO of One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating www.onefamily.ie. She is also a member of the Advisory Council of Better Outcomes Brighter Futures.
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I didn’t hear any outcry when the single parent tax credit was taken from the father in the last budget (where the mother was the primary carer – 2,300 per year)? Didn’t affect me, but where was the outrage then?
Great point.
well said justanothertaxpayer.
And this is relevant why exactly? People didn’t react properly then so they shouldn’t now, is that what you are saying justanotherwhataboutery?
I think the point trying to be made was that fathers who still supported and cared for their children on a regular basis had this tax credit taken from them without anyone barely mentioning it.
There was an outcry last year! I work for the National One Parent Family Network (as a volunteer) and we were all over the media then and now highlighting injustices lone parents face! But no one cared then about the tax credits and no one cares now about the lone parents (and I mean those at the top!)
Ssssh,Andrea – Don’t tell them this piece of information .
Any of the first three commenters care to respond. Divide and conquer tactics sicken me, it’s the lowest form of governance, even worse when people do it for free.
Taxpayer,
Your newfound concern for struggling families is a delight to behold.
It contrasts starkly with your previous lack of empathy with those less fortunate reflected in comments such as these:
“So what is the good old child benefit payment for? I am fine with the State feeding kids that are hungry, provided the child benefit payment is stopped for that kid.”
“Typical of the problem. Blaming someone else for the failings of parents. If people can’t afford to feed their own kids then they should stop having them.”
“– the dole payment is not supposed to be a life-style … it is supposed to be a survival payment. People can double it anytime they like by getting a job like the other 90% of the country have done.”
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/food-poverty-ireland-2047633-Apr2015/
Aww – I have a stalker… Finally – I’ve always wanted one.
I disagree with universal benefits and I haven’t moved from that. At the very least, means test everything as far as I am concerned, but in the absence of that, then there should be equality in the approach. My point above is related to the cry of protest from an organisation that I think was very quiet at budget time last year.
Little Jim,
It’s not for free and don’t let them bug you. The Journal is crawling with assorted government party hacks under various pseudonyms (like taxpayer) peddling deception, distractions and outright lies while their political masters ransack the country to pay for the debts of the bankers. The trolls won’t hesitate to sneer at hungry children and their families and blame them for their own poverty as they promote the agenda of the wealthy and powerful.
best way out of poverty is work and there is plenty of it about if you lose the benefits mindset and the fixations of the left that mask real deprivation that bedevil this country
But Andrea..this is FG in power and FG care for FG. It’s why we put Labour into power so as to temper the blue shirt lack of humanity with a socialist and humanitarian element. But as we all now know Labour sold out and FG have had their own way..listening to Edna telling single parents they’d be financially better off as a result of this is staggering but not surprising.
Tommy ( the party hack),
Nonsense. During the last decade, the unemployment rate hovered around 4% for the 8 years before the crash in 2008. This means that 96% of people, a huge majority will work when there is work available.
Of that 4% chronic unemployed, many are not suitable for the types of employment that a modern economy offers. These would be people with minimal education looking for manual labour in factories, building sites and farms etc. Technology development has greatly reduced the numbers of these jobs and so people will struggle to find work in these areas now.
There are also many people out there who have medical disabilities which won’t allow them to work. In addition there are those with borderline educational, social and psychiatric issues which will in practice exclude them from the jobs market. They may not have any formal medical diagnosis but every town and parish has these people that will never be able to hold down a job. Then there are workers who are still in the labour force but are between jobs. It’s not possible to put an exact figure on these groups that can’t or are not capable of finding suitable work but let’s call it 3% for the sake of argument.
That would leave only 1% of the working population who remain on social welfare by choice. A fraction of these will also be caught in the poverty trap where the cost of child minding, travel etc and lost social welfare benefits would outweigh the earnings if they found employment. This is especially true with the vicious attacks on wages and working conditions during the recession and the prevalence of minimum wage/minimal hours contracts now.
Ireland had one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe during the boom and always had one of the highest emigration rates demonstrating our willingness to work whenever and wherever employment can be found.
Even if we assumed that the measured low of 4% unemployed were all unwilling to work (which is clearly not the case). 4% of the current total Labour Force of 2.2 million approximately equates to 88,000 people. It would take 88k people each claiming €200 per week in payments, 124 years before the total would match the €113 billion and counting that has been extorted from Ireland to pay for the bank bailout.
The true parasites don’t live at the bottom of the pyramid, they reside on the top in areas like finance and politics like your blueshirt paymasters.
You’re pulling some of those figures from your arse mate. Feel free to provide citation to them all if I’m wrong.
If you are unable to work then you’re not classed as being in the workforce
The universal system in place is crippling the government coffers. No motivation to get off your ass and look to better your life. Ah it’s grand sure some get the dole, rent allowance, child benefit and lone parent allowance. It’s a joke. Where’s the incentive to better yourself when everything is handed universally to all?
Their needs to be a different approach. Means tested, situations taken into account like medical etc and people given welfare that actually need it.
Way too many clowns screwing the system left right and centre.
divide and conquer who little Jim? never once did I say I agreed with this cut at all? I was simply voicing my opinion on something which actually effects me and my partner personally.. so I am now the lowest am I for making a point? from my point of view that is what our shambles of a government do try to shut people up by degradation
your cutting and pasting is boring waffler.. best way out of poverty is a job. yes we had 96% employment in a capitalist labour market and in that period we had very little poverty except as defined by leftist nutters. But nothing you said changes the fact that the best way out of poverty is employment and there are jobs to be had but the welfare system discourages people from taking them as does pride. it’s okay for illegal immigrants to clean toilets and houses and work in burger joints but God protect us from all harm if your social welfare dependent is asked to do one of these real jobs. Have a look at this waffler, wean you off Bill Black’s opiates: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11697568/Our-poverty-rules-are-an-insult-to-everyone-its-time-to-rip-them-up.html
Thomas Aquinas if brains were dynamite you wouldnt have enough to blow a fart!
Your reasoned argumentation and perfect logic has blown me away Mr Sheridan. There is no way that I can match your intellect and refute your point, which has been made with such grace and charm. You are of course entirely right that my digestive tract would be unaffected by any quantity of explosive material contained within my skull and posing as neural tissue. Perhaps your own anatomy is different though and that is why you can imagine noxious gases swirling around your cranium and being expelled through your fundament by even a microscopic volume of stabilised trinitrotoluene. That said I cannot help but wonder, how many km do you get to the litre on that red beast in your profile picture?
Trevor,
The figures are correct mate. If they’re wrong, a quick Google search will reveal any errors. Feel free to search as you wish. There’s a good lad.
I see what you mean Waddler, deception, distraction and outright lies all present here spamming up the thread. At least they’re becoming more visible.
Tommy,
If you are in favour of full employment then you would do well to read the work of Bill Black and the MMT economists and their proposal for a Job Guarantee and full employment.
http://mmtwiki.org/wiki/Full_Employment_along_with_Price_Stability
I suspect though that your support for full employment only applies when it serves the interests of capital, such as we had during the Irish property bubble.
P.S. It’s nice that you don’t bother to deny you’re a government party hack anymore.
oh I am not a hack of any party mate. Just a journeyman wordsmith. Who sees through the pretentious elitist bovinemanure spouted by people like you who wouldn’t know the business end of a broom let alone a shovel. Your blind attachment to academic theory and ignorance of working class reality sickens me. people like you try to keep people like me down by telling us how things are supposed to work in your dystopia while people like me get out and do the work for people like your rich parents. I got to break the cycle though and it wasn’t by cutting and pasting other people’s work on internet threads. Waddler Mooney, you know nothing.
Tommy,
You’re a transparent party hack as any regular reader of the Journal will know. Working class reality and economic theory and practice are not mutually exclusive and it’s highly ironic that it takes a socialist like myself to explain to the drooling neo liberals such as yourself, taxpayer etc how your capitalist macro economy and monetary system actually functions.
Still as an eager but minor party functionary, they probably don’t teach you these things at blueshirt bootcamp. You also skipped the irony lessons I see. Accusing someone of being pretentious from behind a username like Thomas Aquinas is very amusing.
the chameleon Mooney, Rooney, Looney has spoken like a true ideologue who has slept on a featherbed all his life – your socialism is rooted in the tradition of Lenin and Stalin not of the real working class who sweat for a living.
just another taxpayer, it’s very easy to bandy the word stalker about. Just because someone remembers a comment you made and quotes it doesn’t make them a stalker. If that was so then anyone who quoted an article written in the media could be classed as a stalker. If you had a real stalker after you you’d know the difference!
Dear Thomas
Judging by the amount of comments In see from you around here you obviously do not do much work yourself.
I am retired John and living on my private pension and proceeds of the sale of my business which I built up with hard work and sweat and a few years.
Waddler mooney your comment is very funny it hilarious. Children in Ireland according to the politicians are centre and treated equal. A little child cannot mind themselves no child care.
A little child cannot work to pay demos tic bills working age is 16 years.
A parent cannot get more hour work we are in a depression because of austerity euro currency
So let’s look at the funny side of your comment. Do you think children are adults that can mind themselves. That what funny.
Just in case you think I am a lonely parent I am not. But Ireland has cohorts of segregation lone parents, homosexuals, immergrants, old people, disabled…none of these are treated as equal.
As a tax paying citizen my money is used to pay bankers, bond holders now we cannot afford to support the most vulnerable in society. Why. ?
The answer lies in political policy. That is funny and this policy will see labour and Fine Gael being beheaded in the next election.
Out of curiosity Thomas was your business inherited?.
no. I left school at 14 and took the emigrant boat, worked on buildings in England, was made homeless by the IRA, got a lucky break working in a pub, eventually bought it, sold up came home and started my own business in the same field here.
Fair enough Thomas you should be proud but not superior.
The one parent allowance was originally conceived of when discrimination against unmarried mothers was rampant and they could not get housing or jobs and were turfed out of their homes. Times have changed and like it or not there are serial abusers of the allowance. Far better to provide a universal tax credit for childcare or better still a universal childcare system as exists in the Nordic countries.
I have to agree with you, the single parent allowance is being abused massively. It’s now seen as a way of life for a lot of people. I see it everywhere, teenagers having kids and not looking for work while claiming benefits, or people living together and the boyfriend hiding behind the couch when the social come around knocking!
I just wonder how people in there teens/early twenties can afford to have multiple children and have never paid tax n there lives.
The system needs to be radically changed.
Are you preordered to pay Nordic levels of tax? And Nordic alcohol prices? And have your PPs no made public and searchable by anyone, as in Sweden?
Ireland as a low tax country is a myth! Income tax certainly is not low! And if you want to buy a house, a car or a pint of beer, or a glass of water from the tap you pay tax tax and more tax…!
At least they get something for there Krone over there, clean streets, a fully functioning police force, good roads, healthcare…. we get very little return on our tax Euro!
@integra ted – Police in Sweden don’t enter Muslim areas so they are not fully functioning after all.
Providing that there was value for money and quality services then yes
we already pay Nordic levels of personal taxes but our cronyist culture fails to function with the ruthless market approach taken by the Finns for example in the provision of social services. And they have a decent work ethic that does not tolerate sponging. Adopting Nordic models of social protection does not mean adopting Swedish models of transparency, which are bonkers. Nordic includes Finland, Iceland, Norway and Denmark all of which approach these issues in similar but different ways. Even they think the Swedes are nuts.
Put away the violins how many of those 215,000 are genuinely single parents plus they can claim an array of other benefits it’s time to get real people and provide for your children
You have no idea what you are talking about, one person I know is set to lose €2000 p/a from her tiny €13000 p/a, this includes all benefits. When this scheme was first started 2 years ago, 60% of lone parents had part-time work, now only 36% have, because this cut effectively bans them from part-time work. No matter what your opinion of lone-parents is, they contribute to society every bit as much as anyone else, they are raising the next generation of tax/pension payers.
@Dan. Here we go with the usual narrative. Single parents are all scammers. They have kids to get the benefits whilst at the same time cohabiting with the multiple fathers of their children.
From what I could gather from vinb this will impact on working single parents the most i.e. those attempting to get out of the poverty trap.
If the aim of this is to make people less reliant on benefits, then why not also hit 2 parent families? Surely in a 2 parent family, there’s no obstacle to one person working. The other can take care of the children. Or stop benefits for those with no children. It’s the same argument. Having job seekers allowance for more than a year or 2 is a deterrent to work.
It’s nothing to do with reliance on benefits, but discrimination against and punishment of lone parent families. Pick an easy target, lots of vile constantly poured on lone parents by commenters on sites like this and nobody bats an eyelid. Money saved, lone parents further vilified and job done.
If a single parent does manage to find part time work, how will they pay for the childcare? Fg, party of business and big farmers…. To hell with the proletariat. Election now!
this has all the hallmarks of a deliberate poverty trap.. what this latest social policy seeks to achieve is not wholesome, that’s for sure… Arc Adoptions will be hoping for a big increase in revenue shortly i’d imagine…
i wonder do any politicians have shares in that company?
Ba$tards!!!!!!!!!!
I think we stopped using that term about children of unwed or single parents quite a long time ago and it is really unacceptable to describe them as such.
The rule makers I was referring to Thomas.
not clear from your comment
I hope it’s clear now
Unfortunately this scheme was greatly abused by people who never really wanted to work as hard as the rest of us! Single parents who decide to have a couple of children from numerous fathers as a career move and expect the rest of us to cough up need to understand that the hard working taxpayer has had enough!
oh for God’s sake Protect Democracy!! Can you not read with all those stereotypes in you head clouding your judgement???? It’s the WORKING, I’ll say it again so you might comprehend, WORKING (i.e. taxpayers) that are being affected by this!
And as a working taxpayer myself, I have not had enough of helping the most vulnerable in this country, so don’t generalise and say that we’ve had enough!
RTE refers to them as KIDS.
What a populist lad you are “Protecting Democracy” .
I have said it before and I’ll say it again bio – bore off!
Im sorry but as a mother who was never married I have no objection to the term unmarried mother. I choose to proceed with my pregnancy. I decided not to get married. I am therefore an unmarried mother/parent. However it was not an immaculate conception. My child has a living father I therefore personally object to the term loan parent. My father died when we ware all very young leaving my mother as a ” loan parent”. The two situations are very different. Not inferior or superior just different.
Yes, it’s clear, Thomas is a langer
The rich get richer and the poor blame the poor.
‘Why is the harsh thinking of sacrifice continuing only for families who are poor enough to be on social welfare’
Families don’t go on social welfare because they are poor, they go on social welfare because they are out of or cannot work. There are working poor too, who are struggling with the cost of living, every family in the country is still making sacrifices. Rather than fund lone parents TDs should consider methods of forced restitution from the parent not present in the family
I can only but agree, the other parent should contribute. However when the other parent has died without making finnancial considerations for their child, how is this possible?
In that case the person male/female is entitled to the widows pension which has allowances for children up to the age of 18 and in some cases up to the age of 22. The widows consideration trumps the single-parent consideration
Well tomorrow is D-Day for myself and thousands of other Lone Parents.
From tomorrow I will no longer be seen as a Lone Parent in the Government’s eyes. I will not be seen as a family unit who is bringing up the future generation. I will not be seen as a mother. I will not have the supports that were put in place to help Lone Parents to help with the costs of childcare when working or studying.
I will instead be seen as only a number in a sea of numbers who is a worker paying taxes, nothing more. And all because of an arbitrary age that was chosen – the age of my youngest child.
With the help of the OPFP I was able to afford childcare when I went back to work. I was able to afford childcare when I was in college. Now that support is gone.
Does this mean that I will no longer be able to call myself a Lone Parent? Will I be able to escape the stigma and stereotypes that follow Lone Parents around all the time? Somehow I doubt it.
Because I will still be seen as a Lone Parent when it suits them. I will still be questioned on my life because of my family status. I will still be subject to vilification and discrimination because of assumptions about my life and how I ended up becoming a Lone Parent.
My choices as a mother of maintaining a work-life balance has being taken from me because it’s assumed I don’t work. My children will suffer because of this as I will suffer financial losses.
Joan Burton told me to make a life-plan to sort it out. I didn’t realise that my life needed sorting!!! I thought I was doing really well under incredibly difficult circumstances! But obviously I was wrong. I have to be working full-time in her eyes to have a proper life-plan and sod the consequences on my health, my children.
And despite all this, Joan Burton and Enda Kenny are still insisting that this policy change is “good for us”. Could they please come and tell my children that? Because we are certainly not seeing how this is “good for us”!
This excerpt is part of Joan Burtons speech in 2012, she agreed the cuts would not work, and made an undertaking not to ahead unless childcare was a Scandinavian type support her own words, this cut is regressive, dangerous and will plunge working single parents in particular out of work and back on welfare , here is her broken promise, ”
Many of those opposed to the measures on the One Parent Family Payment being introduced in this Bill have said that ‘Seven is too young.’ Too young to leave a child alone without adequate childcare, too young for a parent to make the first steps back to the workplace and too young for the same parent to return to education or training.
I entirely agree that seven is too young for anyone to seriously contemplate any of these things without there being a system of safe, affordable and accessible childcare in place, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries whose systems of social protection we aspire to.
That is why I am undertaking tonight that I will only proceed with the measures to reduce the upper age limit to seven years in the event that I get a credible and bankable commitment on the delivery of such a system of childcare by the time of this year’s Budget. If this is not forthcoming, the measure will not proceed”
http://www.joanburton.ie/speeches/social-welfare-and-pensions-bill-2012
Just one of Many stories of loss not gain please read and support this lady to demand a reversal of these cuts’
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/lone-parent-to-lose-up-to-140-a-week-under-welfare-changes-1.2251985
When you say children you mean a certain type of child the ones that belong to the genetically inferior the Reich has no time for the genetically inferior . Working class children disabled people who will not be able to pay banking taxes old people worthless to progress terminally ill children all these are a drain on Reich progress as we move into the future . Dont get the Reich started on single mothers we look at them as human failures and uncles so we will punish them for their sins. We will hunt ye into ghettos and price ye out of breeding. Heil Kenny Heil Benito Burton .
A relentless assault on the most vulnerable in society.
The old, the impoverished, the sick and children.
Under Fine Gael/Labour Ireland is gradually morphing into Tory Britain.
A heartless,merciless shower of crooks who rob the poor to pay the rich.
Time to get them out before our country is ruined beyond repair.
well with all this gender quotes going on they want more women. i remember maggie thatcher hard hearted woman, before joan got elected she came across ok and i understood her since she got to power she has become like maggie thatcher attacking the poorest and most vulnerable she is out of control she has also became a waffler like enda most be catching. it hard to believe she is labour.
Well, i suppose 160 odd useless tds around the country need the money for their yearly 200k plus expenses, joan needs the money (6 million) for her IW administration thing, the IMF needs the money because they just do, fg and labour need the money cause they need to buy the next election, DOB needs the money because…..not sure really! (100 million siteserv), the politicians that get their appearance fees on the PAC committee thats just a talking shop need the money because i guess some of them got carried away with their own hype and bluff in the boom and need to pay off their own debts too. I’m sure theres lots more ‘valid’ reasons why the most vulnerable can’t get paid.
Massive mentality that they have a ‘right’ to all of these things. It’s a joke. Don’t get me wrong I know a lot of people need welfare and depend on it but there are far too many people screwing the system that don’t actually ‘need’ it. They’re too lazy to get off their hole to do something about their situation or life for that matter.
Yes, that is why we had 95% employment when there were enough, jobs, because most of the 400k people unemployed now dont want to work, they have changed personalities since 2008, p.s. this cut effects WORKING lone parents only, a modicum of education wouldnt go astry.
@Trevor. That maybe true, but why only target lone parents?
It’s not a bloody mentality that we have a right to all these things!!!! It’s the inequality of this policy change and all because people have a perception that we are freeloaders living the high life from the state! Well there are some screwing the system, but why are they punishing the lone parents that are WORKING?
I love how you have just stereotyped every stay at home mother as “too lazy to get off their hole to do something”!
Sorry I was aiming my comments at welfare in general. Not just lone parents benefits. I am from a single parent family myself.
Labour identified public opinion division on single parent support and bam its gone. Was any solution or alternative even cosidered from the social champions? In reality no cheap childcare stops parent returning to workforce.
I don’t see why we should be rewarding irresponsible behaviour in the first place.
Typical reactionary mindset. Not all lone parents are sluts who couldn’t keep their legs together.
Ah, the mentality becomes clear now, I bet you smugly give out communion in mass on Sunday, then float home on your own sense of self-satisfaction whilst arrogantly ignoring the filthy plebs from the common quarters. Way to generalise all lone parents you idiot.
It’s irresponsible of anyone to have a child and then look to the taxpayer to keep that child out of poverty.
and this is why lone parents are easy targets for the cuts! Because of small minded fools like yourself not knowing the realities that lone parents live with every day and the crap we put up with every day from the likes of yourself!
@e.o’leary. Widowhood and divorce are very irresponsible. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are many roads to lone parenting. Being widowed, abandoned, divorced. You will be astonished to find out that men can even be lone parents.
The picture painted of lone parents by commentors to this site is appalling. We certainly have not progressed far from the Magdalene days. The attitude of many is still the same. Punish the harlots. Make them work to atone for their sins against society.
Sorry Andrea I don’t think single parenthood is something the state should be encouraging or supporting in the long term. It’s not a good situation for the child or the parent.
And I don’t think the state should be encouraging parents to stay in horrible relationships just because you think so! It’s worse for the child to stay in those situations than for them to be in a home where there’s only one loving parent.
I would offer more tax breaks to married parents and less handouts to single parents.
I am a new lone parent. When I married my husband, I never thought I would be in the position I am in. As a responsible mother I had to remove my husband, and father to BOTH my children, from the family home for their safety. Anyone who knew my husband, would be shocked to REALLY know him, as I was when I saw his true colours. Their are countless women in my situation. You refer to a small minority of women as the majority. Your opinion says more about you than it does about us. Enjoy your narrow-minded, discriminatory existence. The comments I have read here are disgusting, and unfortunately you are not alone in your mindset.
As a taxpayer not wanting to pay to raise other peoples kids and keep them out of poverty is not discriminatory, it may not be a nice thing to say but it’s not discriminatory in anyway.
Jesus will ever grow up.
Its not about weather your married or single. Parenthood is about capacity to parent effectively and take responcibility for the long hall. also im sorry to say, weather people like it or not its also about affordability
@E O leary as a tax payer we all help bring up each others children whether that be through schools, healthcare. your not the only taxpayer in the village don’t speak for everyone. you will still be tax the same tomorrow nothing will change there. the money saved there will be going into save the bondholders bottomless pit.
E.O’Leary, shall we discourage lone parenthood by taking the children off them and giving/selling them to good man/woman married couples? Shall we punish them by putting them to work in Laundries?
You are alsolutely right. So what do we do with the kids already here with people who could provide but now, through no fault of their own, can’t? There isn’t a return policy. Also how do you resolve the pro-choice dilemma. If contraception fails, and a woman knows she cannot support a child or financially support herself through pregnancy, birth, and recovery, her options in this country are limited. I don’t advocate abortion for this reason but if we are going to say women shouldn’t have kids that they cannot financially support, we need to provide alternatives to support her choice to continue the pregnancy or not, whatever the case may be.
O’Leary. I’ve been a tax payer since the age of sixteen. We never had children. Portion of my taxes have always gone to support other people’s children and I have never demurred or grudged that money, because that is what taxation is ultimately for. Why not just quit your right wing Fine Gael crap and give the rest of us a break? The divide and conquer strategy is really getting old, and I promise you that thinking people will oppose it every time it’s employed. It will ultimately rebound on you the same as it wiped out the PDs.
I am amazed at the bile shown to struggling lone parents on this thread. There is no doubt a small number of people that actually want to have children so they could get the lone parents allowance, a very small number. To want to do this and carry it through takes a very particular mindset.
But if you put even the tiniest amount of thought into it, you will find that every single one of us knows at least one lone-parent family, do you really think these people deliberately put themselves into the situation they are in just to claim the lone parents allowance?
Do you really believe these people do not want to have a caring partner to help them raising the children?
Do you really believe that these people do not want to have a career in a field they are interested in?
Do you really believe that the children of these lone parents dont deserve the same opportunities as every other child just because the parents cant find suitable employment?
If you answered yes to these questions, I am glad I dont know you, because no one I know would answer yes.
Disgraceful decision, especially when there is talk of raising the money given to asylum seekers. This country has its priorities all wrong
This government does everything by sleight of hand and the changes for lone parents is a manifestation of this. The golden circle exists to protect its own. Government, Financial Entities and Wealthy successfully cocoon themselves while crippling the ordinary person financially. However every child has two parents so why does the “missing” parent not help? If the missing parent openly helped then the lone-parent would lose out on many benefits.
The missing parent does help in lot of cases and not in others! But that is not the point of this article! The point of this article is that WORKING lone parents (taxpayers) are not being supported by this Government when the Government is ‘supposed’ to be there to help the vulnerable when they need it – not make their lives worse!
the missing parent is dead what exactly do you want them to do.the recession is not over for a lot of people in ireland. there is a big gloss job being put across this country if the government where brave enough to put 1% extra tax on corporation tax their would be no need to keep going to the vulnerable in society to cut cut cut. we are not all in this together the in one section in this society who have been hit at every turn and that is the poorest and most vulnerable we all know cowards will go after these people if anyone thinks enda is going to grow balls forget it that man has worked 1 year as a teacher and the last 40 years he has been hanging around the dail waffling.
Jesus what a headline, so much for a balanced view. The Journal has become so left wing over the last year…..
It’s an opinion piece.
Yes as hyperbolic a headline as ever, If you’re relying on the state to feed and clothe your children you’re not doing the whole parenting thing right.
well why don’t you ;point out any factual inaccuracies while you’re at it?
its an opinion, that is mixed in with the other news stories, at a time when people are arriving at work, or on their smart phones to work. The headline is just click bait, designed to get more page views, which in turn means more money earned through the advertisement placed at the top of this this page.
all while being factually correct…..
DisruptiveTechnology, I don’t know much on the topic so I can’t comment on factual inaccuracies. In fact, the article is written very well and does its job, i.e. strike up emotions of the reader by giving them some facts, while at the same ignoring the bigger picture. Example, “rates of child poverty have risen sharply in recent years particularly for poor children in one-parent families”, when its not just “one parent” families that have seen rates of poverty increase, its across the board.
Al Ca, E O’Leary obviously doesn’t understand the concept of an opinion piece so presumably he/she/it will be just as outraged when Hugh O’Connell writes his next love letter to Enda.
so how do we chose which families deserve to endure the most disproportionate poverty level?
The Hunger Games?
Though it is a harsh measure, the system is being abused, for years I have seen this system worked over by people who where my age and younger and had kids from two or more fathers and were given a house and decent earnings from all the payments, kinda sickening… that’s not to say all are the same, and it will cripple those who aren’t working the system. But reform takes time and there will always someone who suffers, it is the way it goes, I don’t agree with it, but that’s life.
suffer all the children eh.
please sign this online petition if u want to see this cruel cuts reversed
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keep-the-lone-parents-payment-until-the-children
You will find totally confusing and callous comments from our programmed robotic operatives on here that is to appeal to those who think they are within the Reich but they are not. They are just mean spirited misery lovers but they are of use to our Facist agenda. The Reich will last because the people will it. Heil.
I don’t understand what the benefits, if any, of these changes are. Is this meant to be a deterrent for young unskilled women thinking of getting pregnant?? Is it ment to stop indirect subsidies to employers who use short hour contracts?? Is it so that “unmarried” fathers may at last be asked to financially support and take responsibility for their children??? I do know one thing. Once again ireland shows that it does not really care about the children that are already here. It only pays lip service to them before they are born. After all bleating on about the rights of th unborn doesn’t cost sd much as feeding clothing and educating th ones already here.
Miriam this is just another exercise to make the books look good for Angela and Christine. Fcuk the starving children, let them eat cake.
When the history is written, Enda and Joan will be up there with the other great benefactors of the Irish people, like Oliver Cromwell and Dermot Mc Murrough.
Absolutely martin
Joan Burton is on record as saying that she wouldn’t implement this change without a Scandinavian style system of child care, no she’s passing the buck and saying it’s not her dept that deals with that.
Joan Burton and her party are on the record as saying a lot of things. I once even heard that they ware claiming to be socialists.
Does Article 42.1 of the constitution not state something equivalent to :
”The State should endeavor to ensure that mothers are not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to neglect of their duties in the home.”
All that is required is for one of these feminist/parent/interested groups etc to take this to court. If you have not taken steps to do this including starting a campaign to raise money for legal fees or by asking one of the progressive lawyers to take your case for free or with the justified hope that costs will not be awarded against you then wouldn’t you be better off served doing this instead ?
An interesting development Hugh (blue) O Connell has threatened to quit the journal if they allow anymore stories like this. He will however continue to comment under his various alias in support of his great leader.
You’re just trying to cheer us up Gerry.
All these comments saying lone parents need to get off there arse and support their children well I have and yes I got help via the lone parents. I’ve cleaned toilets to feed my child and this year I got offered a place allowing me to do a degree but guess what because I have got off my arse and worked I am not entitled to any support other than the Susi grant which will work out at approx. 50e a week to feed/cloth/school myself and my son. Can you blame people for sitting on their arse? The government have it all backwards because they are too busy looking after themselves!
Ruth Coppinger asks Joan Burton “are you embarrassed”!!!! What a pointless question. That Party Leader and her party are so beyond any scintilla of shame or humanity it is impossible to describe. The new Labour Party Mott – “If you see a bare arse, kick it”. That’s the long and the short of it.
I don’t think even Margaret Thatcher would have thought she’d get away with doing something like this. It absolutely beggars belief. Not every parent that’s on Social Protection (what a misnomer that is!) is a feckless seventeen year old getting pregnant for the he’ll of it. Some have been divorced or widowed. I honestly don’t know how Joan Burton can sleep at night.
Will those on One-Parent Family Payment Vote? I will take a guess and say as a group they didn’t in the last election and probably won’t bother their arse in the next one. So they can suck it up or vote.
The poor get poorer and the rich get richer???
Just have plenty of brown envelopes at hand if you want equality now…
have your say