Reform of benefit system ill hit society's most vulnerable - Ní Chuilín

A piece of legislation that wants to reform the benefit system has been severely criticised by a North Belfast assembly member.
Sinn Féin chief whip Carál Ní Chuilín said the 2010 Welfare Reform Bill, which is expected to become law later this year will hit society's most vulnerable.
Lone parents, the unemployed and those in receipt of benefits will be hardest hit by the reforms the MLA said.
"We tabled a number of constructive amendments in an aim to improve the legislation but these were completely opposed by all the other assembly parties.
"The SDLP Minister Alex Attwood may be content with regulating sanctions, Sinn Féin are not.
“The other parties, and the SDLP in particular, have very serious questions to answer about why they are bringing forward legislation that will attack the weakest within our society and nowhere is this more stark than in areas of high deprivation such as North Belfast.”
Gingerbread, a lead agency that works with lone parents, said the Welfare Reform Bill 2010 will have significant negative implications for one-parent families.
"The Bill introduces a ‘work for your benefit’ philosophy and focuses on the use of sanctions to achieve this," Marie Cavanagh Gingerbread director said.
"It also proposes increasing the pressure on lone parents to seek employment.
“The Bill will require lone parents whose youngest child is less than seven years of age to actively seek work as a condition of benefit entitlement.
"Most lone parents want to work outside the home but there are not sufficient jobs being created and even where there are jobs, there isn't sufficient child care to facilitate that.
“Gingerbread believes that's where the government should focus their energies if they want to improve the employment opportunities for lone parents."