Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

The UNICEF report card published in 2010 shows that in terms of material inequality, Ireland is close to the OECD average. Ireland is ranked 13th, with the best performing country identified as Switzerland. In terms of inequalities in education and health outcomes, Ireland is ranked in second and seventh place, respectively, to the best performing countries. I am very glad to note this information because some key health issues are not currently being addressed. We need to do some better screening and there are serious issues of obesity affecting three-year olds.

Tackling child poverty is a priority for Government and a goal of the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007- 2016, co-ordinated by the Department of Social Protection. As the report highlights, children are more likely to be poor if they are living in lone parent households with low labour market participation and dependant on income support. The Departments of Social Protection, Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and Education and Skills, are working to deliver a range of measures aimed at getting people back to work. A job is the best way to lift people out of poverty.

My Department works closely with other Departments with shared objectives to secure better outcomes for children and young people. The Department is represented on the advisory group on tax and social welfare established by the Minister for Social Protection to examine issues to do with the interactions of the tax and welfare systems to provide good incentives for work and thereby contribute to the reduction of child poverty, in particular.

My Department has responsibility for a number of programmes which are very important in improving children's outcomes. One of the points in the UNICEF report is the importance of early childhood care and how this can improve educational and other outcomes for children, in particular, when aimed at low income families. These are important priorities for me and the Department. I will do everything possible to ensure that the ECCE scheme, the early childhood care scheme, is protected in the forthcoming budget. Some €166 million is being spent by my Department on a universal, free preschool year and a further €43 million is being made available to provide additional targeted child care support for low income parents under the community child care subvention scheme. I would like to see early intervention enhanced as this supports children who are falling behind their peers. The plans for the new child and family support agency are being developed with the advice of an expert task force under the remit of my Department. This agency will have an important role in improving the effectiveness of supports available to children and in particular those children from vulnerable families.

See this speech in context