Ms Tanya Ward:

I thank the committee for the invitation to speak here today. We believe the committee's scrutiny of the budget is crucial. It is playing a very important role in examining and reviewing children's services and budgetary decisions around children. We welcome that the committee is taking the time to look at the budget.

I am from the Children's Rights Alliance. We unite over 100 organisations and our aim is to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child but we are also a member of the End Child Poverty Coalition so this is an area that is very close to our hearts.

Before giving members an overview of what we want to talk about today I will paint a picture of children in Ireland so that they can have a profile and understand what we are dealing with. According to the census the number of children in the country is growing. Since 2006 there has been a 13.4% increase in the number of children in Ireland. That brings the number of children here to 1,148,687 and at the same time we are making serious cuts to child benefits. Since 2009 we have made a cut of €450 million to child income supplements while at the same time the number of children is growing. There is a complete disconnect between the way we are making budgetary decisions and the needs of the people at large.

Members will see from the presentation we have given them that we have included some statistics on the deprivation levels of families living here. It is from the EU SILC survey. They will see that in 2011 over 30% of families were living in deprivation. There are 11 different indicators of deprivation but what that means is that in every second meal children might get to have a piece of chicken or other meat, they are wearing second-hand clothes, they do not get two new pairs of shoes each year and they do not have the opportunity to have a roast dinner every week. Those are the kind of things people take for granted. Over 30% of people here do not enjoy that in their everyday experience. The number of children in families at risk of poverty increases to just 18%, therefore, nearly 20% of children in this country are at risk of poverty and over 9% of children are living in consistent poverty today. Those statistics reflect the changing dynamics of the recession but we must keep them in mind when we are making decisions about budgetary cuts.

In terms of the issues I want to talk about today, one is child benefit and the back to school allowance. Our view is that child benefit is incredibly important as it is one of the only measures the State has to address child poverty.

If one thinks about it, it is one of the only things one gets if one is a parent and is caring for a child. It is the one thing that distinguishes one from a family that does not have children. We are calling for no further cuts to child benefit. We do not think families can afford and survive another cut.

We are also calling for the back-to-school allowance to be reinstated. A €50 cut was imposed last year, which is a significant amount of money for a family on low income. It is a pair of cheap shoes, two pairs of socks and a vest. That is what was taken from families last year. The only real saving to the Exchequer was €17 million, which is not a huge amount when one considers that almost 200,000 families benefit from the allowance. We are calling for it to be reinstated, which we think will have a big impact on family life.

The other issue to which I wish to bring members' attention is the lack of investment in children's services. The IMF and others say our welfare rates are very high compared to those in other countries. However, one has to look at the amount of money we invest in children's services. The cost of living in other countries is cheaper and it is cheaper to raise children because they invest in services for children. They have free schoolbooks, highly subsidised child care and free health care for children. We do not have these services. Every cut the Government makes has a serious impact on the enjoyment of children's rights. Much of the €450 million cut from child benefit and income supplement over the past number of years has been lost to children and families and it has not been reinvested.

The last point I wish to raise concerns the new child and family agency. A Bill is going through the Houses at the moment. It is the biggest public sector reform that this Government will lead. It will combine 4,000 people providing services for children. The budget currently is approximately €550 million. We are calling on the Government not to reduce the budget of this agency. Five hundred and fifty million euro is not a lot of money when one considers the number of children in this country. We calculate that the budget breaks down to approximately €479 per child. If there was an effective service which was not crisis-driven and going from one crisis to another but which actually invested in early intervention and the prevention of abuse and neglect, it would be closer to the €1,000 mark. We call on the Government not to cut this budget but to increase it going forward.