Cllr Niamh Kennedy
Independent Cllr, Niamh Kennedy, has told a meeting of her election workers in Killybegs that single parents, mothers and people with disabilities have been singled out for special discrimination by the Government.
“Not only are mothers and single parents not entitled to benefits for signing-on while doing the valuable work of raising the next generation”, she said, “but one of the first acts of this administration was to cut a critical single-parent allowance, which had helped many people to retrain because it covered the additional cost of childcare.
“This sort of thing does not happen by accident”, said Cllr Kennedy. “The decision was taken at the highest level to remove incentives which were helping people get back to work.”
She added that the “same high-level plotters” cut many important benefits and supports for people with disabilities and slashed funding for the home help scheme.
“Now, according to official figures, about 23,000 people in County Donegal are classified as having a disability. And a staggering 7,500 people here provide regular, unpaid personal help for a friend or family member.
“They haven’t much choice after the cut-backs introduced by the outgoing Government”, she said.
“The emphasis must be on supporting and helping our people to live with dignity and self-respect”, she stressed. “We know where the political parties stand on this question. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and let them know what we think of their performance.”
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