Offaly county councillor Ken Smollen
This morning.
Offaly county councillor and chair of the Irish Democratic Party Ken Smollen, who runs a food delivery service for impoverished families, received the following message from a Laois mum whose identity he is protecting on Facebook
“Hi Ken I am very sorry to message and ask could you please please help me anyway you can with food, I am a single mother with a baby almost a year old.
“I’m private renting at the moment.. I’m paying €180 of my €234.50 a week on rent, and the remaining €54.50 goes between formula baby food nappies and electric.
“My child’s father is supposed to pay €20 maintenance a week, I’ve never seen a cent of it. At present I haven’t eaten more than a slice of stale bread and a tin of soup myself in three days.
“I will go without to make sure my daughter can eat. Anyway if you could please help me any way you could I’d be very very grateful.
“It is eating me having to message you to ask but I can’t ask anyone else. SVP told me this week they can’t help me until September as they take holidays for all of August over here.
“I see you visited Laois yesterday so I hope you wouldn’t see it too far to be able to help me any way possible. Thanks very much.”
Earlier: The First Steps
Would that person in Laois not qualify for the housing assistance payment which would pay her rent up to €580 a month? Why is she privately renting if those are her financial means?
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/housing_assistance_payment.html
Landlords can refuse HAP, I think? If you’re refused a tenancy due to being on HAP over and over I can see why you’d have no choice but to go private for the time being.
Looking at the average rent (€846) and the max HAP (€580) and the fact that you could expect to pay more than average in areas of Laois like Portlaoise, I can see the problem. It’s poverty alright but at its root, it’s the housing crisis.
That would be €66 a week she would be obliged to pay – a lot less that she is paying now. I’d guess the €180 a week (€780 a month) she’s currently paying now is in the absence of HAP. If she can manage to secure HAP in her present accommodation that would be just €46 a week rent out her own pocket. That’s an extra €134 a week she has to look after her and her child. That’s not comfortable but it would be a huge improvement to her present situation. Something isn’t right there at the moment.
€20 maintenance a week off the absent father, who doesn’t even bother to pay.
as if 20 a week would get you far trying to feed and clothe a child in the first place.
About time these lads had this money garnished from their dole, that’ll zip up their mickeys quick enough
Why do you lay blame for this solely at the feet of men?
Last time I checked it took a male and female components of a zygote to create a baby they can’t afford to feed
She is paying to raise the child. He is not. The blame lies solely at the feet of the man in this case, clearly.
not solely…jointly and severally I believe
Because he’s the only one of the two parents not contributing or putting in a shift, you dope.
maybe he can’t afford to
Well that’s tough poopy isn’t it?
it’s a dreadful system we have millie
in France, like Lush was saying, and other countries there is a state childcare system so women can live independently of deadbeats AND they get a fast track legal response where appropriate for taking maintenance
It sounds like something from a dream, doesn’t it?
She’s skipping meals to provide for the child and you’re trying to argue that maybe he can’t afford to give her €20 a week for his child?
I’m not trying to argue anything bertie, I’m saying it’s one of a number of possibilities
given I have personal experience of these types of matters I am pretty confident that I am correct, but it’s only a guess, if other facts emerge I will make a different guess
I don’t stick to absurd talking points like a non-existing WA in the absence of other reliable and clear evidence, unlike, say, the way you do.
thanks for the insults earlier too and well done BS for deletion
You are trying to excuse his non-support of his child by offering up excuses on his behalf yet you were happy to blame her for not having a wealthier man get her pregnant.
I didn’t insult you. I said your now deleted comment was incredibly stupid and I stand by that.
You are trying to excuse his non-support of his child
– false
by offering up excuses on his behalf
– false
yet you were happy to blame her for not having a wealthier man get her pregnant.
– also false
I didn’t insult you.
-false
I said your now deleted comment was incredibly stupid and I stand by that.
– Fair play in fairness. Hope they delete it again.
Just saying “false” won’t make it so. For example you say that “You are trying to excuse his non-support of his child” is false but you also say “maybe he can’t afford to” which is an attempt to excuse his non-support of his child.
I didn’t insult you. What I said was “What an incredibly stupid thing to say. You need to go have a chat with yourself”. Where’s the insult?
You’d need to post your comment again for them to delete it again and aren’t you lucky they deleted it so that you can deny every saying it.
In this case the blame is squarely at the father’s feet B9- the child is 50% his responsibility. It reminds me of the old saying- any boy can father a child but it takes a man to rear one.
I meat a girl recently- lone parent with two kids- three months after the second was born he walked out and never even said he was going- not one cent since- absolute scumbag.
If it’s 50% then it’s both their responsibility – that’s what I was saying.
I didn’t say he wasn’t responsible, I said they both are.
I also said he’s not solely responsible.
In this case here he may not be able to afford to pay anything
Amazingly our system allows this in practical terms
Not at the feet of men, but at the feet of this man! He should have it taken directly from his wages or Social Protection payment. however this won’t solve all her problems. The local authorities have for too long failed in their duty to provide housing. Ah yes it’s their duty!
Here in France, it automatically comes out of your wages, if you refuse to pay.
He could be on the dole. Deadbeats can argue here that they need an amount of money in order to live.
I have personal experience of this.
In theory though yes she can apply for an instalment order. The thing is that alienating the kid from their father is not always a road a mother wants to go down. Perhaps mistakenly but still..
Anyway, better not to get pregnant with a loser in the first place …
He’s refusing to pay for or raise his kid.
How is the alienation on her side?
it isn’t Niamh
in practical terms though that’s not the way it’s made to look to the kids though
it’s such a grave responsibility – parenting
It’s also a joint one
I found whatevers comment tediously one-sided
he/she/whatevers he is have resorted to name-calling and insults rather than a discussion, but that’s the internet for you
How is a private landlord in Laois even getting a thousand a month?
The average rent in Laois is €846 per the RTB (or €963 per Daft, but Daft is less reliable in my considered opinion)
https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/images/uploads/Comms%20and%20Research/RTB_Rent_Index_2019_Q1_V2.pdf
HAP for one adult and one child is €580.
I’m actually beginning to see what the (genuine) problem here might be….
Laois has often been described as the “Paris of the Midlands”
the KEN SMOLLEN food appeal
Is the free Govt Cheese still available?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/nov/05/ireland-recession-let-them-eat-cheese
How grim. 20eur a week to provide for his child. Unblelievable. The man probably smokes more…..
that’s awful to hear, i hope she finds the support she needs. asides from survival, the kid will be denied things like birthday/xmas presents etc. I’m currently living alone, with a decent wage and no GF, if perhaps the Councilor could mail me a pic of the woman, and maybe after that her and the baby could live with me.
you’re trying to be more popular than me…
Not hard, in fairness. You do cut a decisive figure in that coat.
hard hat too…
;)
I think you enjoy getting the wind up certain folk here. So do I, in fairness.
I don’t know how to answer that …
Aside from practical food assistance, she should be helped with checking her welfare entitlements. I’m sure she would be entitled to HAP. One parent family payment with a child under 12 is €237 a week. I presume she is also claiming children’s allowance at €140 per month.
An exceptional needs payment may be payable under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme