Greens propose package of measures to support single people

The Green Party is proposing a package of measures to support single people by tackling challenges around care, social isolation, and housing exclusion. 

Single people have for too long been forgotten and, at times, actively penalised in public policy. They face higher costs for accommodation, utilities and travel, a higher burden of care for loved ones, and a lack of suitable housing. The Green party is committed to addressing these issues.

The Green Party has brought a greater focus to valuing care work compared to any other party in this election campaign. This work often falls disproportionately on the shoulders of single people, especially single parents.

Green Party Minister and candidate for Dún Laoghaire Ossian Smyth said:

"No other party has put forward a comprehensive plan to support single people – a group that has consistently been overlooked by policymakers in the past. Our goals of helping single people, including single parents, to care for loved ones, to engage in their communities and to access suitable housing fits in with our broader thinking on enhancing the wellbeing of all our people."

One critically important commitment is to scale up paid parent’s leave by 50%, recognising that single parents need to do twice the care work as a parent in a couple.

Single people caring for family members will also benefit from the Green Party proposal to make a €325 weekly basic income payment available to all parents, regardless of their means. This builds on the recently introduced Green Party policy to pay a basic income to artists. Both cohorts, artists and carers, do critical work that receives little reward or compensation.

Another part of the package will involve tackling loneliness and social isolation. Loneliness in Ireland is a silent health epidemic. Irish people are the loneliest in Europe, a fact that is almost certainly worsening outcomes related to cardiovascular and mental health. 

The Green Party has committed to establishing a Commission of Experts to advise the Government on the development of a new Loneliness Action Plan. In the interim, they will take short term measures such as ringfencing funding for community and voluntary groups, such as Men’s Sheds and Neighbourhood Network that help to boost social connectivity.

On housing, part of the Green’s plans to boost infill development will include making it easier to add small dwelling units in the gardens of existing homes. This will increase housing density, and facilitate single people, especially elderly single people, to live near family and friends. 

The Green Party also views renovated vacant and derelict housing, including ‘above-the-shop’ units as suitable for many single people. Their manifesto targets at least 4,000 such renovations per year, delivered via permitting reforms, the provision of grant funding and the taxation of derelict and vacant housing units.