Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. It is really welcome that we are having this discussion. It is the first such discussion we have had in the Oireachtas, given that the roadmap was published and then the general election was announced very soon thereafter. I suppose the opportunity for a much wider discussion on the elements of the roadmap and the proposals put forward in it kind of fell away. Of course, as has been referenced, Covid then came along and made a bad situation worse in terms of poverty and deprivation. We must bear in mind that the previous roadmap ended in 2017 but we had to wait until 2020 for this new roadmap. For those reasons, and particularly in light of the impact of Covid, we need a great sense of urgency in terms of meeting the commitments in the roadmap.

The roadmap contains a list of 69 commitments. How many of those are fully complete? How many of them have missed the timeline for completion, necessitating slight changes to the timeline? The level of monitoring is very important. Aside from the steering group, is there any other level of monitoring in the context of achieving and meeting the commitments? I am very concerned that the steering group has only met once. I appreciate that a meeting is scheduled for next week. If this issue is to be a serious priority for the Government and if the steering group is going to oversee and manage the commitments as they are outlined in the Minister of State's the opening statement and the related documentation, then it needs to meet more than once or twice a year.

The upcoming review in 2022 is welcome. Does the Minister of State envisage that the document will be updated in any way at that stage in light of the impact of Covid and several of the commitments contained in the roadmap? For example, there is a focus on the national minimum wage and keeping that as a floor, yet in the programme for Government there is a move towards the living wage, which, of course, is welcome. Will that aspect be considered or updated in the context of the review?

I was very surprised by the fact that so many of the social welfare rates are set below the poverty line. I know several stakeholders flagged this issue. There is no mention of benchmarking to adequacy or the minimum essential standard of living. I am really concerned about that. We have social welfare rates that are below the poverty line and if nothing is included in terms of how to lift people out of poverty, that is of concern. The European Anti-Poverty Network, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed and Social Justice Ireland all made that point in respect of this document when it was published. I would like to see us moving towards an evidence-based approach to social welfare rates such that it would be, at least, about protecting people from poverty, rather than having the political football of a €5 increase each year. That should be a basic aim of any social protection system.

A much greater focus is needed on lone parents and their levels of consistent poverty and deprivation, which increased in 2019. I know that increase in deprivation was across the board but it is particularly embedded for lone-parent families and I believe that needs to be examined. Maintenance has a role to play. Sinn Féin has repeatedly put forward the need for a statutory child maintenance service. I hope the maintenance review that has been set up will report shortly and consider that issue.

A small section of the roadmap deals with the issue of food poverty. Unite the Union recently published proposals relating to deprivation that include information on food poverty. A figure of 680,000 people living in food poverty is outlined. What figure is the Department working off in terms of the level of food poverty? This is obviously a significant issue that we need to examine more closely. We need to have figures that are as accurate as possible.

The Minister of State mentioned community employment and the extension given to those who are currently on the scheme in terms of the end of their contract. Those who are on community employment and other schemes have missed out on time on those schemes,on training opportunities and on work experience as a result of Covid. Is an extension being considered in light of the loss of time on the schemes? In fairness, those on the schemes have missed out.

On fuel poverty, as the Minister of State is aware, the fuel allowance was extended last year. Is that being looked at for this year? The current period is due to finish next month. I ask the Minister of State to give the committee an indication in that regard.