Lone parents live apart ‘to claim payment’

LONE parents were accused of choosing not to live with their partners so they could claim social welfare and tax breaks by a cross-party group responsible for examining social and family policy.

The Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection published a report calling for laws doing away with the One Parent Family Allowance, which is paid to 88,000 people around the country, mostly single or widowed mothers.

It said this should be replaced by a new parental payment aimed at children living in poverty, regardless of whether their parents are living together or not.