Reacting to the announcement of the 4 year plan (Dublin, November 24,2010), OPEN, the national network of one-parent families, denounced the impacts on the poor: those who rely on social welfare payments and those who are in low paid work. OPEN’s CEO, Frances Byrne stated that “the government’s plan includes 3 things of concern to one-parent families:
1. The reduction of the minimum wage by €1 per hour
2. The proposal to change child income supports but without any timescale
3. The development of a single payment to replace a range of social welfare payments”
“The lack of details while announcing that the overall social welfare budget will be €2.8billion is very worrying for lone parents”, said Ms. Byrne, “and builds on concerns at the ongoing leaks which threaten their already low incomes. Forcing Ireland’s poorest families to wait 2 more weeks to get the detail of what they will face from 2011 is unnecessary and disregards the huge level of anxiety in families and communities who wait with fear what lies ahead for them. The Ministers for Finance and Social Protection need to announce immediately what our families can expect in social welfare changes.”
Turning to the proposed reduction to the National Minimum Wage, Ms. Byrne added that “We were promised repeatedly that the vulnerable in our society would be protected during the period of this adjustment, but cutting the NMW to €7.65 per hour makes a lie of this commitment and will make the move from welfare to work more difficult for lone parents, thus increasing their dependence on social welfare”.
/ends
