Aisling Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. I suppose it is very difficult to read the child poverty monitor and find anything positive in it. As has been referenced already, it is quite heartbreaking reading. The huge increase in numbers in 12 months is quite shocking. Not to try and find a positive in it but to ask a genuine question, are there measures that have been brought in in the last 12 to 18 months that might not be captured there yet, so the positive effects of them have not been found in the report? Should we see a significant decrease in the next monitor report? I refer to things like the hot school meals and the expansion of the free schoolbooks scheme. Will we see a decrease in the next monitor report?

On that, they are universal measures, and we have had quite a lot of universal measures in response to the cost-of-living crisis and all of those things, but it is hard to see how many more of those we can sustain, or why we would. Targeted measures are our next steps. What are the main targeted measures the witnesses see as being needed? One of them that came to mind was child benefit. I am not advocating that we move away from child benefit for all but that it would be means tested; there would be a base across the board and then it would be means tested thereafter. Do the witnesses think that will make any difference?