O Cuív accused of giving impoverished lone parents another good kicking

SOCIAL Protection Minister Eamon O Cuív says the reason for cutting the one parent allowance at 13 is to encourage “these parents into the workforce” (RTÉ News at One, May 30).

His remarks suggest he is stopping young girls having children to sponge off the state. This is beneath contempt.

This payment is made to widowed, divorced, separated, battered and other single parents.

Their ability to cope despite the hand life has dealt should be a source of wonder and inspiration to the rest of us. Instead it has been decided to give them another good kicking. Let’s get the facts right.

According to 2008 EU statistics:

* 18% of lone parents and their children live in consistent poverty, compared to 4% of the population as a whole.

* Lone parents who work are more likely to be in low-paid jobs partly because of the difficulty in accessing affordable childcare.

* Low pay means lone parents are forced on to local authority housing lists, some for 13 years or more.

* Lone parents under 20 accounted for less than 2% of recipients.

* 98% of one parent family payment recipients were women.

All the 13-year-old limit will do is force single parents out of the workforce as they will not be able to afford childcare. The children cannot be left home alone as the HSE is likely to take them into care as happened in Navan in February this year.

Minister O Cuív lives a very comfortable existence.

If he has personal knowledge of the plight of many of the people in receipt of the one parent allowance he must be devoid of any decency to contemplate this measure. Has he no shame?

I urge Fine Gael now to make it a condition of entry to government to restore this measure as an act of common humanity.

Barry Keane

Glendalough Park

Cork