Sir, – Órla Ryan summarises the recent report on the rise in child poverty in Ireland and proposed policy changes (“Call for new child benefit tier amid rise in number of children living below poverty line”, News, September 8th).
As found in previous studies, children living in a single-parent family are the most likely to experience poverty. Ryan notes that policy proposals are likely to focus on increasing child benefit payments, but is it not time for the State to recognise this family type in our taxation policies?
We give tax incentives to married couples through joint tax assessment. In a one-earner family, a married man can claim his spouse’s personal tax credit of €2,000 and earn up to €53,000 at the lower tax rate of 20 per cent. This recognises his need to provide for his wife, not children per se (though children were presumed).
We need to recognise that 40 per cent of births are now outside marriage, as reported by the CSO in 2025, and many of these children will be raised in single-parent families. We should recognise them as families by doubling their personal tax allowances and extending tax allowances that would recognise the cost of raising children, etc. Formal State recognition of single parent families would help to eliminate poverty traps and empower mothers to avail of further education and employment opportunities. – Yours, etc,
RM Block
Dr EVELYN MAHON,
Fellow Emerita,
School of Social Work and Social Policy,
Trinity College,
Dublin.
