Archive for month: September, 2024

 

One Family, Ireland’s leading national organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating, has today released its Pre-Budget Submission for Budget 2025. The proposals highlight the urgent need for targeted measures to address the challenges faced by one-parent families, with a focus on child poverty, income inadequacy and social supports.

As highlighted by recent data, Ireland is facing a worsening crisis in homelessness, energy costs, education under-investment and income inequality. A record 14,429 people in Ireland, including 4,401 children, are now in emergency accommodation. Meanwhile, energy debt continues to soar, with electricity arrears increasing by 46% in 2024, according to the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities. The last CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions showed the real median household disposable income fell across all household types in Ireland, and the most for households with children aged under 18 – these families saw their real income fall by almost 8% last year alone. Amongst the other groups whose consistent poverty rates were greater than the national average, the figure for households with one adult and children aged under 18 years was 7%. Most recently, the Economic and Social Research Institute revealed that material deprivation for children has risen to 20%, with average disposable incomes consistently falling due to inflation.

These utterly shocking figures show that households with children, and one-parent families in particular, continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty. Currently, 25% of all families with children in Ireland are headed by a lone parent, and these families experience significantly higher levels of poverty and deprivation compared to two-parent households. Overall, lone parents experience the highest deprivation rate of any household type in Ireland: 2.5 times the national average.

Like other organisations in our sector, in its submission, One Family emphasises that addressing homelessness and housing insecurity, ensuring income adequacy and making significant investments in education and childcare should be top priorities for Budget 2025, as well as for the current and future Governments. Based on all the latest research, expert advice and public opinion polls, there is a clear need for targeted supports for the people most in need in Ireland.

Moreover, the well-documented budget surplus could comfortably cover the cost of more evidence-based, targeted social-support measures rather than the few standard cost-of-living temporary schemes currently considered. One Family urges the Government to spend these funds in a way that adequately addresses the most pressing challenges in society by directing supports and measures towards the most disadvantaged groups. It appears, however, that costly universal benefits and seasonal top-up payments that benefit energy providers rather than social recipients are still the Government’s preferred options – these were repeatedly proven to be insufficient for the purpose of helping the families on the lowest incomes as well as for tackling child and family poverty effectively, or at all, in real terms.

Our budget proposals reflect the urgent need for long-term, structural changes that will support the most vulnerable families in Ireland and prioritise one-parent households in particular. It is now time for the Government to make good on its promises to end child poverty and family deprivation overall by developing a budgetary policy that includes, among other things, adequate funding of the Government’s own Child Poverty and Wellbeing Office and its programme’s priority areas.

One Family‘s key recommendations for Budget 2025 call for a series of actions to alleviate child poverty and support one-parent families so as to ensure that they can live with dignity and security, including:

• Raising the Qualified Child Increase payment by €6 for children under 12 and €15 for children over 12.
• Increasing income disregards for One-Parent Family and Jobseekers’ Transitional payments from €165 to €205, in line with the National Minimum Wage.
• Expanding Fuel Allowance eligibility to all households in receipt of the Working Family Payment and increase its payable period from 28 to 32 weeks.

Click to read the Pre Budget Submission 2025

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QUOTES

 

Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO’s statement:

“One-parent families in Ireland are at the highest risk of poverty and enforced deprivation. The government must take decisive action in Budget 2025 to address income inadequacy and make targeted investments that truly benefit these families.” 

 

Carly Bailey, One Family Policy Manager’s statement:

“Poverty is never inevitable, and we urge the Government to step up on the 1st of October. If they are serious about tackling child poverty and reducing deprivation rates, Budget 2025 must provide a genuine social safety net through which no family can fall through the cracks. Government now has the means to provide that safety net through targeted measures. There can be no more delays or excuses made.”

 

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CONTACT

For more information on or to arrange an interview with a One Family spokesperson, please contact:

Diana Valentine
Press & Communications
comms@onefamily.ie
Mobile/WhatsApp: 0834470645

 

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FOR EDITORS

One Family is Ireland’s national organisation for one-parent families and people sharing parenting or separating. It offers support, information and services to all members of all one-parent families, to those sharing parenting, to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to professionals working with one-parent families.

Children are at the centre of One Family’s work and the organisation helps all the adults in their lives, including mums, dads, grandparents, stepparents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services. These services include a national helpline service, counselling and training courses for parents and professionals.

For further information, visit onefamily.ie.