Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As Sinn Féin spokesperson on children and youth affairs, I will use my speaking time to focus on the impact of low pay on families, particularly on children, and the increase of child poverty in this State. The growing number of families living in working poverty is having a detrimental impact on children and families with consequences felt by entire communities.

The reality is that thisGovernment is failing in how it deals with child poverty. With the country regressing ten years in this regard, as has been noted by the Children's Rights Alliance, low pay and precarious employment is more often than not intrinsically linked with poverty in the home. Low pay and precarious employment is characterised by work that is unstable, unprotected and increasingly unable to sustain individuals and families. It means the future of work is uncertain and workers face a constant possibility of job loss. We also know that precarious work is often characterised by situations in which workers lack a voice provided by unions or other organisations. They work under inadequate regulation and receive pay rates which are considered low in relation to hours worked.

Unfortunately, as we have witnessed most recently with Dunnes Stores, the treatment of workers is secondary to profit. No matter where it happens, precarious employment overwhelmingly undermines women workers as we also saw in the case of the La Senza lock-in. Precarious employment and low pay has such an impact on the lives of those it affects, including on their current and day-to-day lives, as well as on their future prospects, that their lives and the lives of their children, not just their work, are made precarious.

It is increasingly clear that women are carrying a heavier burden of responsibility, accompanied by increased levels of poverty for them and their children. Often described as the triple burden of women, the feminisation of poverty underscores the three fundamental roles women play, as mothers, as workers and as community advocates. Often, the burden in one area of responsibility results in decreased attention to the others, in this case, detracting from women's participation in community and family. Women around the world are more likely than men to be in precarious work.

Child poverty is not inevitable; in the past, child poverty levels have been significantly lower in the State. However, the number of children living in consistent poverty has dramatically increased since the recession started. Fergus Finlay from Barnardos has said it is undeniable that public policy has played a significant role in this increase. He has correctly pointed out that not only has no progress been made in meeting the national target to reduce child poverty but the situation has become steadily worse and that child poverty remains not just a moral imperative but a national scandal. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has also expressed serious concern at the lack of progress made to deal with child poverty. It has pointed out that the increase in child poverty over the past five years coincided with an increase in calls for help. Around €40 million a year was given in direct assistance to families over the period. This is double the figure in the pre-austerity years.

Last year a UNICEF report found that Irish families with children lost the equivalent of ten years of income progress, ranking Ireland No. 37 of 41 OECD countries in its league table measuring relative changes in child poverty. Barnardos has stated that there are 130,000 children in poverty in Ireland, roughly equal to the entire population of County Mayo. Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, said the number of children experiencing consistent poverty has doubled since the beginning of the downturn in 2008 and that we can only conclude that children were and continue to be the real victims of the recession. She has asked, as I do, how will the Government respond to these children during its last year in office. She has said that families are struggling with rising rent prices, utility bills, personal debt, homelessness and food poverty and she has called on the Government to carry out a social impact assessment in advance of budgetary decisions, ensuring budget 2016 is poverty proofed. It is widely known that a child raised in consistent poverty is much more at risk of raising his or her own children in consistent poverty. Child poverty blights childhoods. Growing up in poverty means being cold, going hungry and not being able to join in activities with friends.

It has long-lasting effects. Leaving school with fewer qualifications translates into lower earnings over the course of a working life. Poor children are more likely than their wealthier peers to grow up obese, to have poor diets and to have behavioural problems. The negative consequences of poverty can be seen in children as young as three years. Poverty is also related to more complicated health histories over the course of a lifetime, again influencing earnings as well as the overall quality and indeed length of life. Professionals live, on average, eight years longer than unskilled workers.

Child poverty imposes costs on broader society. Governments end up committing themselves to providing services in the future if they fail to address child poverty in the here and now. Ultimately, the effect of zero-hour contracts, precarious work and resulting low pay on mothers with families is detrimental to society as a whole. If the Government is in any way serious about tackling societal issues, it must begin to introduce protections for workers from the start in order that parents, especially mothers, are given a decent chance to provide a future for their children.

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