Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is not listening. I would not get carried away with the connection between poverty and jobs. We know there are many low-paid workers in the State who must use social welfare payments such as family income supplement for support. There are many poor people who have jobs but still need support. The Minister has missed the point with respect to poverty.

Does the Minister find it acceptable that there children in 2016 living in accommodation with leaking water, mould and faulty electric fittings? One child from every three is deprived of basic necessities, according to a recent Growing Up in Ireland report. As a former Minister for Health, the Minister knows that mortality rates in disadvantaged areas are three times those in more affluent areas. Males in those areas die 18 years sooner, on average, than their counterparts in more affluent areas. How about that for real poverty and hardship? When I woke up this morning and read about the €9 billion that we could have got back from bondholders, I wondered where it all went wrong.

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