Lone parents, mostly single mothers, have encountered "significant" non-payment of child maintenance since coronavirus pandemic emerged in recent weeks, according to several groups advocating on their behalf.
As job losses mounted in recent weeks, many child support payments from liable parents, mostly fathers, stopped suddenly and without explanation, the groups said.
Speaking to RTÉ's This Week, Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family, which advocates for lone-parent families, said the group was "getting a lot of calls to our helpline, in relation to child maintenance".
Ms Kiernan said: "For many people, the maintenance has just suddenly stopped coming into their accounts. This is obviously related to the sudden unemployment that many thousands