So how much worse off are you and what impact has this had on your family?
“Between the scrapping of the Early Child Supplement, the cut in child benefit and the reduction in my husband’s wages, we’ll be down around €156 a month. Most of our income goes on rent anyway, and, we’ll just have to move, and we’re living in a quite modest place already.
“Basically the rest of our money goes on food and bills; we don’t have any left for anything else.”
Is there anything you can do to improve your situation?
“That’s the most frustrating thing because there just isn’t really anything. I would love to return to work, but I just can’t. I’m young, I had a baby shortly after I left college I don’t have much work experience, even if I was successful in finding a job it would be very low paid.
“I couldn’t afford childcare. I don’t understand why the government can’t set up crèches that are not run for profit. We would need support with childcare, rent allowance or help for me to get back to college”.