Press Release – One Family react to Budget 2023 

September 27, 2022 

One Family – Ireland’s national organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating has said it is deeply concerned that Budget 2023 will leave many one-parent families even poorer in the future. Budget 2023 contains several welcome measures such as free primary school books and a reduction in childcare fees, but these are not enough to help families struggling to keep their heads above water. 

Niamh Kelly, One Family Policy Manager said, “We are really concerned about next year and what families will face as prices rise. Budget should have been an opportunity to protect families most in need instead we have a short-sighted Budget which will leave the poorest children in the state even poorer. Let’s be clear the increase of €12 for core social welfare payment and €2 additional payment for children will do nothing to mitigate against poverty in 2023. This is far from what we believe is necessary. Yet again we have another Budget that fails to target one-parent families.” 

Karen Kiernan CEO of One Family said, “We are also shocked and disappointed to see no move on the establishment of an independent Child Maintenance agency, we call on Minister Humphreys to publish the report of the Murphy Review on Child Maintenance straight away. We welcome the positive moves on childcare fees which is a good step towards a publicly funded childcare system but targeted supports are urgently needed for one-parent families who are struggling against a tide of rising costs. This Budget should have been a lifeline instead it’s a rock.” 

 

/End 

 

 

 

Note to editors: 

One Family’s Pre-Budget Submission can be viewed here.

About One Family: 

One Family is Ireland’s organisation for one-parent families and people sharing parenting, or separating, offering 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, step-parents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services. These services include the lo-call askonefamily national helpline on 1890 662212, counselling, and provision of training courses for parents and for professionals.  

Statistics on one-parent families: 

Source: Census 2016 

• 1 in 5 people in Ireland live in a one-parent family. 

• 1 in 4 families with children in Ireland is a one-parent family. 
• 4% of one parent families are headed by a mother, and 13.6% by a father. 
• The number of one-parent families headed by a parent aged 15-34 has decreased, while the number of one-parent families headed by a parent aged 35+ has increased. 
• 356,203 children lived in one parent families, representing more than one in five or 21.2% of all children in family units. 
• The average one parent family has 1.63 children compared to an average of 1.95 for the population overall. 

• The total number of divorced people in Ireland has increased from 87,770 in 2011 to 103,895 in 2016.This is an increase of over 44,000 people in the last ten years. 

 

For further information visit: https://onefamily.ie/ 

 

Available for Interview 

Niamh Kelly | Policy Manager 

 

Further Information/Scheduling 

Noel Sweeney, Communications and Events Manager | t: 085 7241294