Government failing lone parents, says Willie O'Dea

“The findings of this report are stark and clearly demonstrate that for many lone parents there is no recovery," said Willie O'Dea.

Willie O’Dea has slammed the government saying that they are failing lone parents after St Vincent de Paul released a "shameful" report on poverty in Ireland.

Fianna Fáil's Spokesperson on Employment Affairs and Social Protection was reacting to the SVP report which found that rate of in-work poverty among lone parents more than doubled in the last six years.

“The findings of this report are stark and clearly demonstrate that for many lone parents there is no recovery," said Mr O'Dea.

"The living standards of lone parents in Ireland are among the worst in Europe and they have the second highest rates of income poverty, persistent poverty and severe deprivation among EU-15 peer countries.

"These are shameful statistics and in my view underscores the fact that Fine Gael is failing lone parents and their children."

Lone parents are crippled by high living costs and low pay and are struggling to make ends meet. As a consequence, their children are growing up in poverty and this is only serving to perpetuate the cycle of disadvantage," the Limerick TD added.

“Our members see the strain on working lone parents who are trying to combine spending time with their children and meeting their caring responsibilities with jobs which can be inflexible and insecure, and often do not provide a sufficient income to meet all of the household needs,” said SVP national president Kieran Stafford.