Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I had an opportunity recently to meet with the various organisations. Unfortunately, because of the general disturbance in front of Deputy O'Sullivan and some of it behind me, I was unable to hear everything she said on the statistics. I understand, however, that some of the statistics were ones I discussed with the Focus Ireland delegation, including its new CEO, who came to see me.

I agree that those statistics are very worrying. What we need to do is to get all the different authorities to come together, particularly Dublin City Council, to open up the closed properties, of which there are more than 1,000. The council has been given the funds to refurbish them. I know that builders are anxious to do the work on them. The key is to make those properties available. As the Deputy said, those families will have a degree of priority with respect to the properties. All of these arrangements have been made with the local authorities, so the key thing is to see that families get those houses.

The Deputy referred to social welfare payments and to the UN committee hearings held earlier this week. I am sure the Deputy knows that because of social welfare transfers and social welfare payments to families we have the largest reduction in the at-risk-of-poverty grouping. Not only is our social welfare system strong, but it is my intention to make it stronger. Part of the strength of the social welfare system is that nowadays it helps families to get into work, whether those are one-parent families or families with two parents. That has been a passion of mine since I first became involved in politics. It is very good to have a strong social welfare system. My work as Minister for Social Protection has been to ensure strong social protection in this country. However, it is even better if a person can get a well-paid job that will give him or her greater financial independence. I refer to the changes currently under way.

See this speech in context