Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I refer the Taoiseach to the recent UNICEF report, Children of the Recession. The report deals with the impact of the recession on children in the OECD. Many Deputies referred to it but no one has held the Government to account for the impact of its decisions on children in the State. The figures for Ireland make for sober reading, to say the least. The number of children suffering poverty rose from 18% in 2008 to 28.6% in 2012. We are now catching up on the United States, which has a disgraceful rate of 32.5% and we have passed the UK rate of 25.6% child poverty. The figures represent a damning indictment of global capitalism, given that such poverty can exist in the richest countries as a consequence of the inequalities that lie at the heart of capitalism, and in fact is an essential part of the system. Before the crash In Ireland, 18% of children lived in poverty but inequality has increased dramatically due to the austerity enforced on ordinary families by the Government and the previous Fianna Fáil-led Administration. Children are going to school hungry. They are arriving at crèches with doughnuts or chocolate bars because that is what is on offer in the local shops. A total of 729 children in 400 families in Dublin alone have lost the roof over their heads. Families are forced to live in hotel rooms with nowhere to cook or play.

I also refer the Taoiseach to the young mother from Cork who wrote to a national newspaper to ask what is the point of working to pay bills or taxes when the real losers are one's children. The mother is part of a working family. She said in her letter that her two children are being raised in child care centres like caged hens while the parents work. They are out of the home for longer than the average industrial worker.

At the other end of the scale, the report I cited states that 16% of those aged between 15 and 24 years are not in employment, education or training. Along with those forced to emigrate they are part of a generation cast aside. That is the real price of austerity and the choice the Government has made, along with the previous Government. Does the Taoiseach agree that is the result of the choices the Government has made by bailing out the bankers and protecting the wealthy at the expense of those in society who most need it?

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