Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I thank the Minister for her reply. There are many facets to the UNICEF report, The Child Left Behind. As regards the assessment of the material well-being of children in the 24 richest countries, Ireland is listed at 22nd with only Poland and Hungary below us. That assessment was based on the percentage of children in homes with incomes below 50% of the national average. The second assessment was the percentage of families without an employed adult, a point made by the Minister. The third assessment was the percentage of children living in homes with fewer than ten books in the home.

The role of taxes and social transfers in this country plays a key role. A total of 13.5% of our children are kept out of poverty because of these transfers because without them, the rate would be up to 35% and this is an important marker. In most countries, the marker would be about 10% to 15%.

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