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

When I heard the Minister's reply to Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh's Question No. 16, I thought she was not living in the real world. Her most reply indicates that she is definitely not living in the real world. The income of Ireland's poorest households fell by 18%, while the rich got richer. Is the Minister going to stand over this as a Labour Party Minister? She asked people last year to elect her to protect them from this horrible gap between rich and poor. Some 700,000 are living in poverty, of whom 200,000 are children. The Minister has cut back on the lone parent allowance and the household package for the elderly. She is leaving people more vulnerable. I want to see a more aggressive approach being adopted by the Department to auditing how changes will have an impact on people. There are international models for such an approach, including in Australia and Canada. The Scottish Parliament, to give another example, conducts gender-based and poverty-based audits. Will the Minister give a commitment to undertake such audits in respect of all proposed measures in advance of the budget?

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