Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 16 October 2025
Committee on Children and Equality
Child Poverty and Deprivation: Discussion (Resumed)
2:00 am
Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. If I give him extra time, he takes three minutes.
I am going to ask a final question before inviting a representative of each Department or organisation to make a final closing remark in case there is something they wanted to contribute but were not asked about. I will give each of them a minute or two. They can have a think about that.
For my last question, I am going to go back to the ESRI. Dr. Russell spoke about "the provision of more free services or in-kind benefits". Is she referring to the likes of the national childcare scheme and the free schoolbooks and hot school meals initiatives? Was she thinking more of what Deputy Farrelly had in mind when he spoke about wraparound services in areas like socialisation, leisure, music and sport? Could she elaborate on that?