Sir, – The abolition of the one-parent family payment from July 1st for parents whose youngest child is over seven years of age, in an effort by the Department of Social Protection to save money, will cause unnecessary hardship for thousands of lone parents and their children, and should be abandoned. Many will face increased financial difficulties and some may be forced to give up their part-time employment and become fully dependent on social welfare.
However, this is only the latest in a number of policies by that department which have caused huge hardship. The reduction of the jobseeker allowance for those under 25 to €100 per week targeted a group of people who are not politically organised or active. The rationale for the measure was ostensibly to get young people off their couches, away from the television set and go out to look for work, a mindset which reflects the kind of policies advocated by the right wing of the Conservative Party in the UK. Recently, I met a young man who had been living in a long-term homeless hostel, for which he had to pay €50 per week as rent. Unable to survive on the other €50, he fell behind with his rent, was evicted and is now once more living on the streets.
I know many young people who are drug-free who are refused social welfare payments because they have no address, as they are unwilling to stay in hostels which are full of drugs.
Again, the department was quick to reduce the rent supplement for those in private rented accommodation when the recession began and rents were falling but has refused to increase it now that rents in urban areas are almost at their pre-recession level. This policy is directly responsible for hundreds of families and individuals being evicted into homelessness from their rented accommodation over the past 18 months.
My experience over the last few years is that, increasingly, the Department of Social Protection has become hard-hearted and even ruthless, to the dismay of some of its own staff.
In the pursuit of austerity, compassion has been abandoned. To a great extent, Ireland’s economic recovery has been built on the hardship imposed on people who are poor, homeless or otherwise vulnerable. – Yours, etc,
Fr PETER McVERRY, SJ
Jesuit Centre
for Faith and Justice,
Dublin 1.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole argued that the reform of the one parent family (OPF) allowance threatened to contradict a key principle of good government – first, do no harm (“Poorest will be hardest hit by lone-parent cut”, Opinion & Analysis, June 23rd). However, the evidence seems to indicate that while well-intentioned, the OPF has been responsible for harm.
Cross-national reviews of lone-parent payments by the OECD have concluded that Ireland’s scheme has been uniquely generous – a specific lone-parent payment, with out-of-work income equivalent to 53 per cent of an average working parent income, plus other benefits. “There is then not the same economic necessity to work” as in other OECD countries. “Lone parents are expected to work in Austria and Japan, whereas the Irish policy stance is one of encouragement”, as the OECD reported in 2003. The unintended consequence appears to be Ireland’s exceptionally low lone-parent employment rate. In 2005, at the height of the economic boom and employment availability, Ireland’s rate of lone-parent employment was, by some distance, the lowest in the OECD at 44.9 per cent. The OECD average was 70.6 per cent, and eight OECD countries had lone-parent employment rates of over 80 per cent. In Ireland, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs estimated that “the majority of lone parents depend on social welfare as their main or only source of income”.
As the OECD review in 2007 stated, “Public policy has a large effect on the labour market behaviour of sole parents when adequate benefits are provided without a clear signal to clients that they are expected to work [then] sole parent employment rates are low and poverty risks high. This is the case in Ireland.”
The problem with even generous welfare payments is that they cannot compete with paid employment as a way out of poverty. A Eurostat analysis in 2013 of children “at risk of poverty or social exclusion” showed that of the EU 27, Ireland’s level of child poverty in 2011 was exceeded only by four eastern European countries, and was easily the worst of the old EU 15. The authors’ examination of the comparative data across Europe led them to conclude that one of the main causes of child poverty was no, or very low, work intensity linked to welfare policies towards single parent families.
The unreformed OPF has been a significant contributor to child poverty and social inequality. Reform should be welcomed. – Yours, etc,
Dr MICHAEL O’CONNELL
School of Psychology,
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4
Sir, – It is estimated that up to 30,000 single parents will be affected by planned cuts and changes to lone parent allowance.
Lone parents will also be expected to enter into the jobseeker allowance programme, where they must be available for and seeking work.
Given the Taoiseach’ s comments in the Dáil on Tuesday, when he defended the move by saying “it will incentivise more people to enter into paid work”, perhaps (female) lone parents should invoke Article 41 of the Constitution: “The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.” – Yours, etc,
MADELINE McALEER,
Ennis, Co Clare.