PR: Family Campaign Launched

The State punishes single-income families

Date: 04 November 2005

Did you know that the State punishes some families by taxing them up to an additional €5,460 every year? That’s a huge amount of money - enough to pay a mortgage for four or five months! And most of these are families with young children, struggling to make ends meet.

These are families where one parent stays at home to care for children. While they provide best care for the future taxpayers of the nation, the State punishes them for doing the right thing. And now, these same families are being asked to pay a further cost - to subsidise the childcare costs of double-income families. It’s time for families to fight back.

But to fight back we need to be informed. The Mother and Child Campaign researched for months prior to making a pre-Budget submission on caring for children and families to Minister Seamus Brennan. Amongst other things we found out that:

• The best place for a child to be reared is at home, with their mother
• Many mothers, forced out to work by State policies, want to be full-time mothers. In fact, 69% of mothers work full or part-time in the home
• Single-income families are becoming the poorest-by-income section of society
• Every EU member state desperately needs more children
• The State is more concerned with gender equality and labour market demands than families and children
• and much more!

We’ve reprinted this information in a booklet, called Family First, which we’re making available free to members of the public. We’ll also send you a submission so you can lobby Seamus Brennan and help put the family first. If you would like booklets or submissions for your family and friends, please email us on info@familyfirstireland.org

ENDS

For further information please contact Niamh on 01 8730465