Councillor lambasts fine gael over oneparent family payment

MAYO Sinn Féin Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh has expressed shock over Fine Gael’s response to her call on Minister Joan Burton to reverse the cuts to single parent families and to not implement the changes planned for July.

The Erris-based representative said the proposals will result in one-parent families losing their one-parent family payment once their youngest child reaches the age of  seven.

She hit out: “I was shocked at the reaction from some Fine Gael councillors when I raised the matter at a meeting of Mayo County Council. They appeared to justify the past and proposed cuts on the basis that reductions to welfare payments were needed to push single parents out to work.

“Single parents in the public gallery were distraught and visibly upset.

“Since taking office, the Fine Gael and Labour Party government has made eight separate cuts to the one-parent family payment. The fact is that these cuts have had the effect of reducing the number of single parents working.

“In 2011 a total of 49% of recipients of one-parent family payments were working but this had fallen to 36% in 2013. The irony of this proposed change and indeed all the other cuts is that single parents who are working or in education are the ones who will suffer the worst financial loss.

“There are 5,437 one-parent families in Mayo involving 8,837 men, women and children. The new provision due to come into force on July 1 will mean that a huge number of these families will now see their weekly income drastically reduced. 

“The result is that many lone parent families, already struggling to get by, will be pushed into greater poverty. Almost 12,000 families will see an income drop of up to €86 per week as a result of this cut.”