Government denies role in pulling report

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said she found it hard to see how the 44% of young parents on the dole were better off than if they were at work.

Ms Burton said her department’s research had it that most people claiming the dole were living on €188 per week.

She was responding to the withdrawn ESRI research carried out by Professor Richard Tol which said the additional costs of going to work made it an uneconomical decision, particularly for the parents of pre-school children.