Ms Suzanne Connolly:

I thank the Chairman. On behalf of Barnardos I thank the committee for the invitation to speak here today. Barnardos works directly with more than 15,000 children and families, providing services in 40 centres throughout the country. We see first-hand the transformative effect child centred policy decisions can have on a child’s life but, too often, we see how a lack of statutory investment means that children are lost. When a child is lost, the world takes notice. It is front page news. However, one in seven children in Ireland is lost. We lose children every day to homelessness, poverty and neglect. These children are lost through no fault of their own and it is entirely preventable.

It is ten years on from the economic crash and by adopting austerity policies, the State may have ensured Ireland’s economy recovered but it also guaranteed that those hit hardest by the recession are those who are most vulnerable. Child poverty has risen exponentially during this time from 6% of children in 2008 to 11% in 2016; that is more than 73,000 children. For a decade, these children have been forgotten. That is collateral damage of a financial crisis created before they were even born and in 2019, we have an opportunity to transform these children’s lives.

The most effective way for the Government to ensure a child reaches their potential is to support their family. We recommend that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection focuses on two income supports in 2019, namely, those for lone parent families and families with teenagers. Lone parent families are consistently among the most vulnerable in society and families with teenagers face increased costs when it comes to food, clothing, school and social costs. We call on the Government to make changes to the payments and schemes available to lone parents to support them rather than penalise them when trying to access employment. For families with children over 12 years of age, we ask the Government to increase the qualified child payment by €5 per child at a cost of €35 million.

Parents are the biggest influence in a child’s early life, particularly in their first year. Paid parental leave in a child’s first year, shared between both parents, is increasingly recognised as both in the best interests of the child and good for society in general. In Ireland, a 2018 survey found that 69% of people are in favour of financial support for parents to stay at home for the first 12 months of their child’s life. Developing strong attachment between parent and child early on is critical in promoting positive outcomes for children.We recommend the introduction of an additional eight weeks paid leave in a child’s first year to be shared between both parents at a cost of €59.2 million per year, with a commitment to a further 16 weeks split over two consecutive budgets.

Making education a positive experience for all children, no matter how much money their parents earn or where they live, should be a core goal of budget 2019 if the Government truly intends making Ireland’s education system the best in Europe by 2020. While the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection assists some families with the cost of school through the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, this represents just a portion of the cost of sending a child to school. Barnardos school costs survey highlights the cost of sending children to school in Ireland. School books are essential for children to receive an education yet we know they are expensive, subject to change and increasingly issued in single use format. We recommend €20 million of the Department’s budget be diverted to fund free school books for primary school children.

Barnardos welcomes the increase in this year’s budget for the school meals programme. However, there remains a significant shortage of appropriate food preparation and storage facilities in schools, which affects the effectiveness and sustainability of the school meals programme. We recommend further investment of capital grants to improve school infrastructure and capacity to provide nutritious meals for children at a cost of €2 million.

The Department supports families to secure and retain a home through rent supplement. As more tenancies switch to the housing assistance payment funded by Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, this Department should shift its focus to other supports being made available to families in the home. We work with families across the country experiencing homelessness and food, travel and social costs in emergency accommodation for these families are significant. We recommend an emergency accommodation expenses payment be made available to families experiencing homelessness at a cost of €61 million.

The cost of heating and powering a home is on the rise, with a 5% increase in the past year. The past decade has seen a near 20% increase in the cost of fuel and electricity, which represents a higher proportion of household expenditure for those who earn the least, and a price hike hits them hardest. Fuel poverty impacts children’s health and can mean children have less food, clothes and other basic necessities.

We recommend an increase in the fuel allowance by €5 per week at a cost of €45.6 million.

Our vision is for a country where no child has to suffer and where each child is able to reach his or her fullest potential. Investing in children in budget 2019 would go some way to realising this vision. Our statement this morning has focused on our recommendations to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection but Barnardos has made a number of recommendations to other Departments, which we would be happy to discuss also. We look forward to hearing members' thoughts on our proposals and welcome any questions the committee might have.