Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Like the student who wasted his or her college years, the Government is trying to cram in leading up to the big final test, the next general election. With this budget Fianna Fáil is attempting to erase the memory of all those budgets that champagne Charlie McCreevy introduced which rewarded the very wealthy and allowed the gap between rich and poor in our society to widen ever more. The Government is attempting to be seen to address inequality. If that effort results in some positive and long overdue measures, it is welcome. All credit is due to those who have campaigned long and hard for social justice and economic equality. We in Sinn Féin are proud of our consistent campaigning in these areas.

I welcome the Government's attempt to catch up and make up for the lost time and all the wasted public money. However, I avail of this opportunity to encourage it to do much more. We believe this new and emerging pattern will continue in the closing months of current Dáil as the general election looms ever closer, be it in 2006 or, much more likely, having examined the detail of this budget, in early 2007.

Published in 2005, the EU survey on income and living conditions shows that one in seven children in the Twenty-six counties, almost a staggering 150,000 children, lives in consistent poverty. These children suffer weekly economic hardship that excludes them from the quality of life and the opportunities enjoyed by the majority of children. A further significant number of children, an estimated 242,000 or 23.9% of young people in the State, are at risk from poverty. They live in households which have less than 60% of the State-wide median income. The national anti-poverty strategy set 2007 as the target date for consistent child poverty to be reduced to below 2% or eliminated altogether, if possible. Clearly, with some 14% of children in consistent poverty, the target is far from being reached in 2007. This target should have been reached ahead of time in an economy which has seen growth almost unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

What have we got? What has the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, provided for us to address child poverty and the needs of children today? If we look at the figures for child benefit, it is clear that the increases the Minister has announced fall far short of that which has been identified by the End Child Poverty Coalition as necessary to help bring those children out of poverty. For first and second children there is an increase of €8.40. It was estimated, conservatively, that what was needed was an increase of €14.32, bringing the rate up to €155.92, not €150. For third and subsequent children there is an increase of €7.70 instead of the estimated €15.55, a shortfall of €7.85 on that which was identified as required. At a time of such resources being available to Government, that in itself is a damning indication of its failures.

Let us look at the child dependant allowance, an issue that few ever mention. It has never been mentioned by the Ministers for Finance of these Governments since 1997. Going back further to 1994, the child dependant allowance was frozen and has remained at that level ever since with the result that the figure then applying, as a result of inflation, has lessened in value considerably over the period. Is there any mention in the budget of the child dependant allowance? There is no provision whatsoever.

Despite the unprecedented prosperity in the economy, it is one of the most inequitable in the developed world. The failure of the Minister, Deputy Cowen, to address the inequalities, particularly in the area of the needs of children, will perpetuate that disgraceful claim. In the United Nations human development index for 2005 this State comes third last in the league of 18 OECD countries in terms of poverty. Only the United States and Italy, among the developed countries, have worse levels of poverty and inequality. It should be noted that the so-called United Kingdom is fourth from the bottom of this league. Included in its figures are the Six Counties where child poverty levels are worse than in this area of our island, adding to the total of avoidable — I emphasise avoidable — hardship for children on the island of Ireland. This level of poverty is inexcusable given the affluent Irish economy of the 21st century.

Record budget surpluses have been achieved year after year, yet the opportunity to move Ireland towards a society of equals has been squandered. Very belatedly, some positive measures are being undertaken, some reflected in this budget, but these should have begun in 1997 when this coalition took office and when real opportunity presented. I and many others contend there is sufficient wealth in society to ensure that no child should want for any of the basics of life and all should be able to look forward to a full and rewarding future. The lack of vision, the incompetence and the conservatism of successive Governments in the State have robbed generations of children of their birthright.

What greater basic of life is there than the right to unrestricted access to health care? What is the position in respect of budget measures to extend the medical card to all under 18 years, a call Sinn Féin has made in recent years in pointing out the importance of the extension of full medical card cover to all children under 18 years of age? At a collectively estimated cost by the Departments of Health and Children and Finance of some €223 million in a single year, that would have been small change for a measure that would have greatly assisted in addressing child poverty in society. Shame on the Government and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, for failing to introduce the extension of the medical card to all children under 18 years of age, thus perpetuating inequality, hardship and grief.

Reversing all the years of neglect and the continued neglect of today's budget will mean a change in policy and a shift in emphasis towards social need and equality. As we in Sinn Féin have repeatedly pointed out, such a change would include moving away from this outdated model of annual budgeting and the budget day ritual towards multi-annual budgeting based on medium to long-term planning. It will require participatory democracy with the people and the Oireachtas having a real say in policy and spending plans, Department by Department, Minister by Minister.

In the preamble to the Budget Statement, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, said that he intends to engage with the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service early in the new year. I welcome that but we will have to wait and see what that translates into in real terms before we can measure its real worth and purpose. Certainly as a member of that committee I will not participate in a charade or a smokescreen exercise. It is inadequate already in its stated outline but if it is only the first step, we will wait and see.

In November 2004, Sinn Féin tabled a motion in the Dáil calling for the development of a comprehensive and accessible child care infrastructure and a wide range of measures to assist parents, whether caring for children full-time in the home or working outside the home and using child care services. I again thank the 50 Deputies who supported that motion in the Dáil division. Prior to the budget for 2005, last year's budget, Sinn Féin published its proposals in its budget priorities document, Putting Children First. In doing so we consulted widely with the child care sector. Our budget 2006 priorities which I submitted to the Minister, Deputy Cowen, in advance of today's budget updated and reiterated those proposals. The Dáil debate on the Sinn Féin motion last year heard Government commitments to develop child care in the State but the subsequent budget in early December 2004 was a major disappointment and further fuelled the national debate and the demand for action.

It was widely recognised that the greatest omission from the first budget of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, was early childhood care and education. The budget of 2005 was followed by a national debate on the need for society to care better for our children. The debate recognised the intense pressure placed on parents, children and family life in an economy with high demand for labour from employers. The nature of work itself was also addressed in the debate and the demand has been raised as never before. The work of people caring for children in the home must be fully recognised and supported. The same applies to other carers in the home.

The National Economic and Social Forum, NESF, published a landmark report in September of this year entitled Early Childhood Care and Education. In 2000, the national child care strategy stated that child care provision was, "uncoordinated, variable in quality and in short supply". That this is still the case in 2005 was confirmed by the NESF in its September report which pointed to the very inadequate implementation of policy on child care in Ireland and the markedly insufficient financial investment in the education and care of our younger citizens. The NESF report set the benchmark which this Government must reach. The measures announced by the Minister today fall far short of that benchmark. They cannot make up for almost a decade of neglect in the area of early childhood care and education.

Let us note some of the measures. We see that we must wait until March of the coming year before paid maternity leave will be raised to 22 weeks, increasing only in March 2007 to the 26 weeks for which most commentators argue. Even then, we will see 16 weeks' unpaid leave provided rather that the 26 weeks consistently sought. Is any mention made in this budget of paid paternity leave of two weeks per child? There is no mention of it whatsoever.

What of the need to provide quality child care throughout the State? In our pre-budget submission, we argued for the provision of universal pre-school sessions of 3.5 hours per day, five days per week for all children in the year before they attend school. What did we get in the Minister's budget? We see the equal opportunities child care programme, EOCP, is to peter out at the end of its term and a new national child care investment programme will be introduced.

The EOCP created 26,000 places and we are told a further 15,000 places are in the pipeline. The Minister stated 50,000 new places will be created in the new programme up to 2010. Who will be the providers? It appears the Government's solitary commitment is in the area of training. I must describe the level of support for those providing child care as paltry. The early child care supplement, a direct payment of €250 per quarter, or €1,000 per annum, is less than €20 per week. Does anybody have any idea what child care costs families and single parents in society today? What type of nonsense are these figures? They do not reflect the reality that people are dealing with.

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