(Image by Marcin from Pixabay)

This week, a new report was launched detailing how Ireland stands on poverty and social inclusion metrics relative to our European peers. The report did not attract much media attention, possibly due to the fact that there are plenty of other pressing media stories taking place right now, but perhaps also due to the fact that the report was mostly good news: Ireland performs well compared to our peer countries on most of the relevant metrics.

Ireland has a long history of setting various targets to reduce poverty. A concerted effort was made to reduce poverty amongst the elderly several decades ago. Thanks in large part to sustained increases in the state pension, this has largely worked – poverty rates amongst the elderly are quite low, both compared to other countries and compared to other groups within Ireland. Ireland has also set new ambitions to reduce child poverty, with a new Child Poverty unit being established within the Department of the Taoiseach. While these are positive developments, the picture is not so good for two particular groups of the population: people with disabilities and lone parents. Given the Minimise Project’s focus on policies that may reduce abortion rates, the results pertaining to lone parents are of particular interest to us.

Of all vulnerable groups (lone parents, people with disabilities, elderly people and children), lone parents tend to be the most vulnerable: they are the most at-risk group on all social exclusion indicators across European countries. Within Ireland, this pattern holds, with lone parents coming in as the most at-risk group in four of the seven indicators. Some of the findings are quite stark. Amongst lone parents, Ireland ranks second best in the EU for lone parents who are working and are at risk of poverty, and also on housing overcrowding. However, Ireland ranks last in the EU for lone parents who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and also ranks last for the proportion of lone parent households with very low work intensity. What these findings suggest is that lone parents who are working are able to earn enough to give themselves and their children a good standard of living, particularly compared to our EU peers. However, given that the report finds that lone parents generally have very low work intensity, and lone parents generally are greatly at risk of poverty and social exclusion, this suggests that the labour market is doing a lot of the work (no pun intended).

It seems therefore that improving the standards of living for lone parents can be achieved by increasing labour market participation by lone parents. This almost certainly requires more childcare supports, and particularly childcare supports targeted at lone parents. A mother or a father who has a partner and stays at home with their children is not automatically in a low-work intensity household – their partner can continue to work. For lone parents, however, this is not the case. If lone parents do not have access to childcare, they face a far higher barrier to work than a partnered parent. Furthermore, most households that incur significant childcare costs are double-income households. Thus, while childcare costs may be high, there are usually two – or one and a half – incomes from which to pay these costs. This is not true for lone parents. Unless they live with their parents, siblings, or another family member and share expenses, a lone parent must pay childcare fees out of a single income. This is no small ask, especially with accommodation costs, particularly rental costs, at all-time highs.

Ireland has a higher rate of lone parent households than our European peers. This may be due to our historically low abortion rate – although since 2019, that may shift. If we do not want our abortion rate to climb yet higher, we need to support lone parent households. Some may object, saying that we don’t want to encourage people to become lone parents. This is a nonsense position. First, many lone parents are not in that position by choice – their partner may have died or abandoned them. Secondly, if we believe that the presence of supports for lone parents encourages people to become lone parents, then the absence of such supports must also encourage people to have abortions, particularly people who would end up parenting alone if they carry to term. It is simply incoherent to claim otherwise. Supporting lone parents, particularly in accessing childcare and employment, is an obviously pro-life position.

Ireland’s past performance in improving poverty and social exclusion across many metrics and for many groups is evident in the report. This should give us grounds for optimism: we can improve poverty and social inclusion, with the right set of policies and with strong political will. Targeted measures for childcare and employment supports for lone parents should become part of pro-life advocacy in Ireland. In addition to reducing the abortion rate, this gives us an opportunity to ally with those who do not agree with us on the issue of abortion, giving useful grounds for dialogue. The pro-life movement is well-placed to focus on this set of policies as a priority action, with benefits for women, children, and the pro-life movement.

Muireann