John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity to compliment the Taoiseach on the remarks he made in the presence of the Magdalen women here yesterday. Every word he said was sincere. I pay tribute to the bravery of the women who came to the House.

Last week, the Children's Rights Alliance report card for 2013 awarded Ireland a grade "A" for strengthening children's constitutional rights but an "F" on the levels of child poverty in the State. That grade reflects the devastating impact which successive austerity budgets have had on children. Current proposals to target child benefit as a mechanism for the redistribution of wealth will have a serious and disproportionate effect on mothers and children. Any attack on child benefit is an attack on women. It is as simple as that. Does the Taoiseach agree that mother's have a special position in our Constitution? Credit must be paid to the women who in the 1970s lobbied successfully for child benefit to be paid to mothers rather than to fathers. It was for a very good reason. Does the Taoiseach agree that in following that proposal, the State recognises the work of women in the home and that we should uphold that recognition by leaving universal child benefit untouched?

Before I ask a number of questions, I note that some startling statistics have been released over the past number of months. Women are the main victims of domestic violence and domestic violence cuts across all classes and levels of income. Workers in domestic violence shelters say that child benefit is often the only source of income to which a woman can turn to escape a violent household. They will also tell one that some men use money as a way to exert pressure and control in a relationship, that many women are denied access to family finances and that child benefit is often the only money they get to see.

Does the Taoiseach agree that universal child benefit is a financial recognition of Article 41.2 of the Constitution which recognises the valuable contribution to the State a woman makes through her work in the home? Will the Taoiseach give a commitment to the hundreds of thousands of women who are beginning to worry early in the year and before we even talk about next year's budget that they face a cut in child benefit? I disagree fundamentally with any cut to child benefit for any woman, irrespective of household income, on the basis of the statistic that many women, even those in households into which a reasonable salary comes, rely on child benefit only. I ask the Taoiseach to give a commitment to the women of Ireland that no matter what happens over the next year child benefit will not be interfered with.

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