Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The survey to which the Minister refers shows that consistent poverty has remained static at approximately 7% for the past two years. What does the Minister think are the principal reasons that little or no progress has been made in reducing that rate? Does he accept the real scandal is that 96,000 children live in poverty and that little or no progress has been made on reducing that number? Will the Minister guarantee that in tomorrow's budget and his work over the coming year he will target that unacceptable level of child poverty and put the same attention and focus into tackling that problem as he put into tackling poverty among pensioners? I give him credit for tackling that problem successfully and reducing the rate. The key poverty issue must now be children. Can the Minister guarantee he will give that his full attention in the coming year?

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