Cut to maternity benefit is anti-women and anti-families

Published: Tuesday, October 15, 2013

In response to the announcement of Budget 2014, Orla O’Connor, Director of National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) said,

Maternity Benefit
“Standardising maternity benefit at 230 Euros per week is absolutely anti-women and anti-families as it means a de-facto reduction of 32 Euros per week for the vast majority of women.  This will hit women and their families at a time when they are already struggling with reduced income and increasing costs. A reduction of maternity benefit will force many women to go back to work earlier than they wish to. This is not in the best interest of women, their children or indeed society as a whole.”

Childcare 

Orla O'Connor continued,
"We welcome the 4.5 million investment into increasing quality in childcare. This is a crucial step to improve childcare services in Ireland."

Older women

Orla O’Connor added,
“The cuts to benefits and supports for older people will have a disproportionate impact on older women as they are much more likely to be poor in old age, to live longer and to be dependent on State pensions only. Measures such as plans to scrap the bereavement grant will put unnecessary hardship on one of the most vulnerable groups in our society without any noticeable savings to the taxpayer.”

Young people

Elva O’Callaghan, Co-Ordinator of NWCI’s youth initiative, the Y Factor project, said
“The proposed reductions of Jobseekers Allowance to young people is very short-sighted.  Young people are already under financial pressure and not all can be supported by their families. This measure will push more young people out of the country and into poverty and homelessness in increasing numbers.  We are also very disheartened by the proposed cut of a further €2m to youth work services – which are already critically stretched by cuts to date and increasing demands on services by young people, often in distress.” 

Free GP care for 5 year olds and under

Orla O’Connor added,
“We welcome the introduction of free GP care for 5 year olds as a first step to introducing universal healthcare in Ireland. However, it is absolutely unacceptable that this measure is being introduced at the expense of people in need of medical cards. The aim must remain to increase levels of free care over time and not to replace one group with another.”

Ends/

For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, Communications Officer, NWCI, Tel. 085 85 89104.