Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 19, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:

"(3) The Minister shall, within 3 months of the commencement of this Act, lay before each House of the Oireachtas, a report on the introduction of a second-tier, employment neutral, child income support payment to target child poverty levels.".

I tabled this amendment on Committee Stage and I am reintroducing it now because I am concerned about the lack of progress regarding the supplements paid to families, particularly in respect of children. The programme for Government contains a commitment to amalgamate the qualified child allowance and family income supplement in order to develop a second tier of income supports targeted at the poorest families. There has not been any progress in respect of this commitment.

NESC compiled a very good report on this issue and discovered that the outcomes for children, in terms of efforts to tackle child poverty, were unsatisfactory and that child benefit is extremely inefficient in the context of tackling poverty. NESC recommended the establishment of a new second tier support for families on low incomes.

The Minister placed on record some figures in respect of the EU-SILC report, which was published yesterday. The CSO also published a report yesterday which contains some interesting statistics and which indicates that 20% of children living in Ireland last year were living in poverty. It also states that the children most at risk are those who are underprivileged and that almost 40% of the total number of people living in consistent poverty are children.

There is a real need for the payment to which I refer because it will be targeted at those who need it most. I intend to press the amendment because I want progress to be made in respect of this matter. It is important that a report be laid before the Houses and that we obtain clarification on where the Government stands and in respect of its views on progress being made. Unless amendments of this sort are taken seriously, matters will be placed on the long finger. I do not want to have to table this amendment again next year in respect of the relevant legislation because progress has not been made.

The lives of children who live in poverty are substantially different from those of their peers. There are children attending school today who have not eaten a hot meal, who have no heat in their home or who do not own a coat. One of the criteria used to judge whether a child is living in poverty is whether he or she only possesses one pair of shoes. Many of us may find it difficult to imagine trying to live in such conditions. However, almost 20% of children in this country are obliged to live in consistent poverty. Targeting the payment represents the only way that real improvements will be made. The changes in the qualified child allowance and family income supplement were not sufficient in the context of improving the lives of the children to whom I refer.

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