Rent aid cuts ‘will up pressure on pregnant’

CUTS in rent supplements will put pregnant women under even more pressure, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency has warned.

The Government is planning to save 30m by refusing rent supplements to people unless they have been renting private accommodation for six months.

The chairwoman of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) said pregnant women would no longer have the option of moving out of the family home to secure accommodation. “If this is not changed, there will be problems,” Olive Braiden said. “If a woman has no accommodation while she’s pregnant and she has people pushing her into a termination, the agency has to be able to say ‘If you’ve no accommodation, you will get it’.”

The cuts are in direct contradiction to the first ever Strategy on Crisis Pregnancy, launched just two weeks ago. One of its key recommendations was that “rent supplements should be updated in light of increases in rent charged, especially in the greater Dublin area”.

There are no exact figures on the number of crisis pregnancies. But last year, almost 6,500 women gave Irish addresses at British abortion clinics. Up to 80% of abortions are to single women, with the highest abortion rate among 20 to 24-year-olds and those over 40.

Ms Braiden said it would be exaggerated to claim that rent supplement cuts would indirectly lead to a rise in abortions.

The CPA has arranged a meeting with Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Coughlan in an attempt to persuade her to abandon the cuts.

The pro-life Mother and Child group has also expressed concern that the measures will put an extra burden on pregnant mothers.

“They are more likely to be in a position where they have to move out of where they previously lived and this will create an enormous crisis,” said spokesman Justin Barrett. “Most of the stigma attached to crisis pregnancy is gone, but for a small minority the response to women is to get out (of the family home).”

He described the proposal as “mean -spirited”, “insane”, and more reminiscent of the Victorian poor laws.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs said it pays almost 60,000 rent supplements at a cost of 330 million.

It said the cuts were necessary to ensure “prudent management of the social welfare budget”.

“Minister Mary Coughlan would like to emphasise that people who have particular problems and difficulties will be cared for and nobody will be made homeless because of this measure,” said a spokeswoman.