Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

In December I described the budget as an historic missed opportunity. Many of the proposals in the Bill come from that budget. I stated at the time that we have had an opportunity over the past number of years resulting from the strong economy, etc., to lift children and their families out of poverty. I note the Minister spoke of child poverty as an unacceptable blight on society, a view we would all share.

The Minister and his Government have been in power for a number of years and have had the opportunity and resources to transform the lives of many people, particularly children. They could have lifted such people out of poverty as there is now an extra €2 billion in the Exchequer, yet such resources are not used to that effect.

With the wealth of this State over the past ten years came an unprecedented opportunity to create a more equal society and deliver a health and education system that the people deserve. This Bill should also be taken in the context of UNICEF's latest report, which ranked Ireland 19th of 21 industrialised countries for its proportion of children who experience hardship. Some 100,000 children in this State live in poverty, with 300,000 people living in consistent poverty.

Statistics show that eradication of inequality has not been a priority for the Government. The Minister may indicate it is being slowly eroded but why should this be so? Why can the problem not be transformed overnight if resources are there?

Like James Connolly, my party would have no sympathy with those who measure a nation's prosperity by the volume of wealth produced there instead of the distribution of that wealth among the population. Although the Bill includes a welcome increase in child benefit, an important payment for tackling poverty, it is no longer universal and payment is discriminatory. With the habitual residency condition in place, families which do not qualify and live a vulnerable existence — those in most need of many such payments — are negatively affected.

This condition discriminates against families where parents are not permitted to work. These include people awaiting decisions on their application for residency; those undocumented where employers fail to pay social insurance and tax; and people working in the State for less than two years who cannot show previous EU employment. Many of these people, working in the black economy or the construction industry, do not have proof of employment.

Although the Government has professed that tackling poverty is a major issue, it is now complicit in discriminating against certain children whose parents do not qualify for payments. On one hand, the Government has claimed to be lifting children out of poverty but, on the other, it drives other children into poverty. The Government has paid lip-service to ensuring that all children are equal but it is clear some are more equal than others.

Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Government is a signatory, declares: "States Parties shall recognize for every child the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right in accordance with their national law." My understanding is that the discriminatory practices of the Government are in direct contradiction of this statement. This view is supported by the Free Legal Aid Centres' call for universal child benefit to be restored as a matter of urgency.

A certain group of children should not be paying the price for immigration policy. As FLAC rightly pointed out, with families in a variety of situations who cannot meet the habitual residency condition, being prevented from receiving child benefit can be the difference between having shoes or a warm coat for children or not having them.

There has been much hype over the proposed referendum to enshrine children's rights in the Constitution but I pose the question of whether the Government wants to ensure the right of all children residing here to live free from poverty, another form of abuse. If the Government does, it should once again make child benefit universal.

I reiterate Sinn Féin's position on the guardians' payment. The Government has refused to recognise the reality that many guardians are grandparents, aunts and uncles of children whose parents have succumbed to drug addiction. Children are left in a state of limbo in that grandparents and extended families, often living on limited resources and low income, look after the welfare of the child while the State refuses payments due to the child because of unworkable criteria relating to parental abandonment. Sinn Féin would increase the guardian payment to the level of foster care allowance while reforming the abandonment criteria for grandparents. They would receive benefits even if they did not agree the child in question had been abandoned.

Section 35 of the Bill deals with the rent supplement and I am aware proposals for reforming the one-parent family payment are ongoing. It is recognised that the loss of rent supplement is proving a disincentive for those unemployed lone parents who take up employment. Sinn Féin believes lone parents should be able to keep their rent supplement for at least the first three years of full-time work and continually if in part-time employment. Any form of coercing lone parents into work is wrong. Education, training and child care issues must be addressed as a priority for any reform of this payment.

In a reply to a parliamentary question on 14 December last, the Minister proposed bringing forward enabling legislation to give effect to the transfer of community welfare officers and superintendents in time for the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2007, with the transfer taking place as soon as possible thereafter. No agreement has been made with the unions or members with regard to the transfer and community welfare officers are concerned they will be taken from disadvantaged communities, where they provide an invaluable service. There are also fears their discretionary powers will be lost. Will the Minister provide an update on the transfer as many people have been kept in the dark long enough?

I welcome the enhancement of employees' rights, particularly with regard to entitlements to pensions. However, current pension policy is neither equitable nor progressive, particularly as it is failing low-paid workers and women. Irish pensions are paid at low rates compared to European norms and we must do more to keep retired workers out of poverty. We should respect and appropriately reward contributions made by such people during their working lives by increasing pension rates to levels allowing not only income security, but a decent standard of living.

The current public pension arrangements are also deficient in that they discriminate against women. They generally tend to have lesser entitlements to contributory pensions because they are more likely to have less than complete social insurance records due to the time spent working in the home. The home workers' disregard scheme is not a sufficient remedy. The work of homemakers should not be devalued and should allow entitlement to contributory pensions for those involved. The current system also prevents older women from enjoying economic independence. It is Sinn Féin's view that unpaid work in the home is still work and women pensioners deserve equity.

Sinn Féin is committed to an equitable pension policy based on social insurance and complemented by social assistance. We wish to see all pensioners retired with financial security and dignity. The welfare of pensioners, rather than the welfare of institutional or stock markettraders, should be at the heart of a pensions policy.

I welcome the Minister's proposed changes but we should take them in the context of so many people out there who still live in poverty. It is a missed opportunity because of the finances available to us. Children in some of the poorest one-parent families will benefit from changes but not to the extent outlined by the Minister. There must be a dedicated effort to approve high-quality child care throughout the State.

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