Ms Niamh Kelly:

Barnardos supports the publication of an anti-poverty strategy. Through the child poverty strategy and the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures document, we have seen the need to put in place a strategy with an action plan. It should have cross-departmental buy-in and have funding behind it to ensure it is implemented. We call on the Government to publish a strategy.

On fuel poverty, we support a cold weather payment. This year has shown the need for a more responsive approach. Weather seems to be changing as our climate is changing and extraordinary weather events are becoming more common. Energy efficiency is key. Living in drafty, mouldy environments has a serious impact on children's health. Children develop at a fast rate which means these conditions have a greater impact on them. Parents cut back on certain items to pay for fuel and keep the house warm, which means children might go without other necessities. As Senator Higgins stated, energy efficiency is key in public and private housing, not only the private rented sector. An additional problem for tenants in the private rented sector is that they are scared to report deficiencies in housing because they do not want to be turfed out. They do not want someone to come in to the home to look at the boiler because it can be used as an excuse for the landlord to look at things. Many tenants stay as quiet as they can to protect their tenancies.

On lone parents, we support extending the jobseeker's transitional payment until a child is aged 18 years. That is a sound proposal and we echo the Senator's praise for the Vincentian Partnership's work in this regard. It has been crucial in recent years in pointing out the disparity in costs. Childcare costs are huge but teenagers cost the most and there is no recognition of that across the payments. We would like to see an increased payment for teenagers and the extension of the payment for lone parents beyond the child's 14th birthday. Children do not stop being children at 14 years. The cut-off applied at age 14 is an anomaly in the system.

Another key area regarding lone parents, which was very much tied in with the changes that were introduced, is the availability of affordable, sustainable, quality childcare. In our wider proposals, we call for an expansion of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme. We would like one year's paid parental scheme to be introduced for all families to provide a safety net for all parents.

That is more of an issue for lone parents. Such initiatives would go some way towards improving opportunities for parents and their families.