This paper analyses recent changes to the structure of Ireland’s One-parent Family Payment (OFP) as an example of how austerity has not only impacted on Irelands most vulnerable but also structurally changed Ireland’s social welfare system. We use various analytical tools including gender typologies, feminist principles and economic and social human rights frameworks to make sense of recent policy developments for Irish lone parents and key social security features of austerity budgets and to examine the recent trajectory of welfare changes for Irish lone parents and how it is transitioning to a more conditional employment focused regime for lone parents. We conclude that, given Ireland has been relatively slow to embrace this type of regime; it is not too late to learn from lessons elsewhere which show that forced labour market participation of lone parents does not alleviate child or adult poverty.