Labour Party Councillor for Clontarf Ward on Dublin City Council
May 3, 2011
Welcome to my blog!
I hope to use it to keep people up to date with everything I am working on and as a way for my constituents to communicate with me. So if you have any comments, questions, ideas or issues I’d love to hear from you.
You can contact me on 086-837-5219 or horganjones.jane@gmail.com
April 16, 2012 Leave a comment
I was delighted for the opportunity to present a motion at last weekend’s Labour Party Conference on behalf of the Dublin North Central branch.
You can read the text of this motion and watch the video of my speech below. Details of all of the motions and keynote speeches from Conference can be found on the Labour Party website.
Motion 20 – Cllr. Jane Horgan-Jones
“Conference notes that 18% of all families are now lone parent families. Conference further notes that lone parents are more likely than any other social group to be living in consistent poverty [EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2011] and that children living in lone parent families are experiencing deprivation and poverty more than any other demographic.
Conference recognises that when the impact of taxes, benefits and childcare costs are combined the financial incentive for lone parents with young children to take up employment is lower in Ireland than in any other OECD country [OECD Report "Doing Better for Families, 2011].
Conference further notes that lone parent families are headed predominantly, although not exclusively, by women, and that this issue is therefore intrinsically linked to the struggle for gender equality in society.
Conference recognises that the single biggest barrier to the labour market for lone parents is the availability and affordability of childcare [ESRI report on Female Participation in the Irish Labour Market 2009] and that the demand for such childcare is not being met.
Conference recognises that lone parents of both genders often experience difficulty in accessing work, education and training opportunities because of a lack of good quality affordable childcare and after-school care. This means that job choices are often limited and low-paid.
Conference notes the negative impact that budget 2011 had on lone parents and in particular recognises that the cuts in CE schemes impacted significantly on lone parents.
Conference therefore calls on the Labour Party in government to:
- Refrain from imposing any further cuts to benefits for lone parent families that would create further barriers to accessing work and education opportunities;
- Devise a focused and targeted scheme providing high quality, affordable childcare for lone parent families;
- Develop a system of mutual obligation, similar to that of Nordic countries where parents are obliged to look for work, and, in return governments are obliged to provide employment and childcare supports.”
