Dr. Tricia Keilthy:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for the invitation to speak today on the important topic of child poverty, a core issue of concern for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, SVP.

In 2021, our regional offices received just over 191,000 requests for help, almost 70% of which were requests from families with children. As pointed out by Ms Kiernan, with poverty rates six times greater than other family types, one-parent families continue to be the group most often helped by SVP. The high cost of living, lack of opportunity, precarious and low-paid work and underfunded public services limit the options for families in poverty and make it difficult for them to see a way out. Growing up in poverty means children are missing out on childhood and are being deprived of reaching their full potential. As well as the individual consequences of living in poverty, the failure to address poverty also brings significant societal costs. In recent research published by SVP and carried out by Dr. Michéal Collins of UCD, it is estimated that the State spends €4.5 billion per annum dealing with the consequences of poverty on people's lives. To put that in context, this is greater than the respective budgets of housing, justice, transport and agriculture.

We can solve child poverty, but we need all Departments to work together to address the structural issues that trap families in poverty. We echo calls for a new ambitious and comprehensive child poverty plan, with concrete actions across all Departments. Committing to benchmark social welfare to an adequate level would ensure children have their basic needs met and are not excluded from everyday childhood experiences. An adequate income would allow families to plan for the future and provide an anchor for parents to access training, education and good-quality jobs. A living wage and free childcare for low-income families would support parents to build a better life for their children.

With housing costs increasingly driving financial insecurity among low-income households, we need Housing for All to deliver on the promise to build more social and affordable housing so that every child can grow up in a secure and safe home. At the same time, families experiencing homelessness or living in insecure privately rented accommodation and worried about how they will keep a roof over their heads need timely and effective support. We need a child and family homelessness strategy with a strong emphasis on prevention. A full review of the operation of the housing assistance payment and the impact of unaffordable top-ups to meet market rents is also urgently required.

We are currently seeing the impact of rising energy costs, which are putting significant pressure on struggling households. This winter, SVP has seen a 24% increase in calls for help with utilities. As well as immediate support for families struggling to keep their homes warm, we need a just transition for children that ensures all can live in warm energy efficient homes regardless of tenure type, surrounded by safe green space to play and connected to their schools, friends and community through an affordable public transport system. Providing genuinely free primary and secondary education would mean the full participation in education for all children. At the moment, our underfunded education system is preventing too many children from reaching their potential and is placing families under significant financial pressure at back-to-school time. We also need targeted supports to help address educational disadvantage, which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Getting the policies right and putting resources behind them are critical but ending child poverty must be a top-line priority across government. We can look to New Zealand, which has shown leadership in this regard. It has made targets legally binding, established a child poverty unit in the Prime Minister's office to drive implementation from the top and amended its public finance Bill to ensure all budgetary decisions reduce poverty and promote well-being. This is the type of radical action we need if we are to make an end to child poverty a reality in Ireland.