Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

If the Minister had attended the Barnardos launch yesterday, she would have discovered more about the serious difficulties being caused by the undoing of earlier progress in tackling child poverty. The anecdotal experience of Barnardos is that there has been a significant increase in the number of families with young children that are experiencing poverty. Has the Minister had an opportunity to examine the research that was published by the Vincentian Partnership for Justice over recent days, which showed that the greatest pressures are being encountered by families with young and teenage children? The Minister's sympathetic comments about the abolition of the Christmas bonus will provide cold comfort to families who cannot feed their children, heat their homes or pay their rent. I ask her to reconsider the provision of income support to families. The research of the Vincentian Partnership for Justice indicates that many families' figures just do not add up - their weekly incomes do not meet their needs. They will certainly not have enough money this Christmas. Given that parents will not tolerate the possibility of cancelling Christmas, the Minister is in danger of driving many vulnerable families into the hands of moneylenders. What will she do to prevent that?

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