Feb 13, 2005

Lone parents in Ireland

The Conference on Women and the Labour Market in Europe compared data from 14 countries and found that the UK and Ireland have the highest number of single mothers aged between 18 and 35.

The conference focussed on young single parents and although we're in second place, the data shows our single parents are getting older.

Most people claiming lone parent allowance here are aged between 30 and 39, while the numbers aged 24 and under have been falling steadily.

The survey also revealed that Ireland has the most generous social welfare payments for single-parent families. The report's author concluded that there was a direct link between the level of social welfare and the incidence of single parenthood.

Meanwhile, the Government is planning to replace the current lone-parent-allowance with a new child benefit system which would no longer demand that single parents live alone

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