Minister Burton responds to Ciara Conway TD re One Family queries
Ciara Conway T.D. has kindly given us permission to share the following information. Following our meeting with Ciara and our two page budget analysis, she raised several issues about the budget cuts with Minister Burton. Minister Burton’s letter of response is enclosed here and this is One Family Director Karen Kiernan’s response to Ciara Conway:
Dear Ciara,
Many thanks for corresponding with Minister Burton on our behalf. Whilst the letter provides factual information and some of it is drawn from the letter that will shortly go to parents in relation to the One-Parent Family Payment unfortunately it is still not clear what the Department’s strategy is in this area, what policy and research this was based on and how they will ameliorate the poor education levels of parents, the lack of employment and the absolute dearth of afterschool care.
Regrettably it has become clear to me that these cuts were made without reference to policy or research but were simply a means of cutting the budget without touching the principal rates of social welfare payments. What is even more unfortunate is that so many of these cuts have fallen on the shoulders of the poorest families and children in Ireland. One Family and our members will continue to speak and advocate on these issues and we appreciate your assistance to date and we look forward to working with you in the future.
Best wishes, Karen
Top 3 questions for election 2011
Please make one-parent families an issue in the election by asking canvassers these questions:
1 What will your party do in government to reduce the very high poverty rates experienced by one-parent families?
2 What are your views on the recent social welfare changes that require lone parents whose youngest child is over 14 to go on to Jobseekers Allowance rather than on the One-Parent Family Payment?
3 Do you believe that the definition of the family in the constitution should be changed? (Currently only the marital family is recognised in the Irish constitution). If not, why not?
For a more detailed list of ten questions and helpful up-to-date statistics on one-parent families see here
Seminar on proposed changes to family law by LRC
Mary Wilson and Karen Kiernan
One Family seminar puts the spotlight on proposed changes to the laws governing family relationships
One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation providing specialist support services for people parenting alone and sharing parenting, held an important seminar on 18 January in response to the Law Reform Commission’s report on the legal aspects of family relationships, chaired by RTE Drivetime’s Mary Wilson and attended by a number of other NGO’s, service providers and interested parties. Read more
Rights, Responsibilities and Children
A discussion of the Law Reform Commission report on legal aspects of family relationships
A One Family Seminar
The seminar was held on Monday 18 January 2010 in DIT, Aungier Street, Dublin 2, chaired by RTE Drivetime’s Mary Wilson.
Speakers included Geoffrey Shannon, special rapporteur on children; Fergus Ryan, family law lecturer in DIT;
family law solicitor Ciara Mathews of Gallagher Shatter and Candy Murphy, One Family Policy Manager.
The Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper on Family Relationships, launched in September 2009, examines changing patterns of family relationships, in particular how the law should approach the rights and responsibilities of fathers, step-parents, grandparents and other members of the extended family in contemporary Ireland, taking into account the best interests and welfare of children. Read more