Stagg under fire over lone parent cuts

Labour’s chief whip, Emmet Stagg, was accused of “double duplicity” for condemning lone-parent benefit cuts to a constituent, having pushed TDs to vote for them.

The details of an email Mr Stagg sent to a critic of the cuts embarrassed Tánaiste Joan Burton, as she tried to defend in the Dail the changes to lone-parent payments.

Reading out parts of the email, Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, said it highlighted the unfairness of the cuts. Some lone parents are €70 a week worse off, as they say they cannot make up the shortfall by working extra hours, due to a lack of affordable childcare.