The rate of poverty among lone parents who work more than doubled in just five years.
A new report from the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) found that one in eleven working lone parents were living below the poverty line in 2012.
However, it had increased to one in five by 2017.
The report suggests that "Ireland is failing to protect lone parents and their children from the adverse affects of poverty".
Other key findings include that 84% of lone parents in Ireland are unable to meet unexpected expenses.
The report also shows that the living standards of lone parents in Ireland are among the worst in Europe.
It found Ireland has the second highest rates of income poverty, persistent poverty and severe deprivation among EU-15 peer countries.
Almost 60% of lone parents, meanwhile, said that they couldn’t access childcare services due to cost.
The report notes that employment rates are three times higher among lone parents with third-level education.
However, one in five lone parents reported that they couldn’t access formal education for financial reasons.
'More working families struggling to make ends meet'
Author of the report, Dr Tricia Keilthy, explained: "High housing and childcare costs combined with low levels of income means that it's very difficult for many families to make ends meet.
"These factors really reduce the standard of living for working lone parents.
"But they also create additional barriers for those who want to take up employment or increase their working hours."
She added: "I think it's really reflective of SVP members' experience - [they] are meeting more working families struggling to make ends meet."
Dr Keilthy suggests the country has a "long way to go in creating pathways to sustainable, decent and family friendly employment".
Lone parents
Lone parent support group SPARK said the figures can be traced back to Government reforms introduced in 2015.
Spokesperson Louise Bayliss said 30,000 families lost their one parent allowance under the reforms introduced by then-Social Protection Minister Joan Burton three years ago.
"The cuts went in and basically a lot of lone parents were forced out of work," she said.
"Employment no longer paid for them and it was exactly what we predicted.
"We said it would happen and all the independent reports the Government has commissioned i.e the Miller Report, the Indicon Report, they have all said the same thing - that work does not pay for many lone parents now."
Poverty
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisted that, despite the findings, things are getting better for lone parents.
“No amount of individual stories – no matter how genuine may be – will change the facts,” he said.
“The facts are that for the past four years, for each of the past four years, consistent poverty and depravation has been falling in Ireland.
“Depravation rates have fallen for lone parents and child poverty rates have fallen.
“They will fall again, exactly because of the policies Government is pursuing.”
