John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are looking for a legal obligation. Deputies should not come in here and say there is anecdotal evidence that poverty levels for children are lifting. The resources of organisations such as Barnardos and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are stretched. The reality contradicts any anecdotal evidence that might be out there. Things might be improving for a small proportion at the top - those who never saw any austerity measures implemented against them by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Labour Party.

We are talking about children who are caught in consistent poverty. Barnardos, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other organisations are stretched to their limits particularly at this time of year and also when children go back to school in September. We are asking for a legal obligation to deliver this report. It is not up to me in an amendment to instruct the Minister where he should go to get that report. He is the Minister and has a huge team of officials around him. It is their job to put in place the mechanism as to how this report should be delivered.

The Minister should not sit on the fence and say that the amendment does not show how the figures will be delivered. That is not my job. My job is to put in place legislation that will tie the hands of the Government so that we get an annual report on the latest most up-to-date figures on child poverty. The Minister is well paid and I am asking him to do his job. He has a huge team of officials around him. He should talk to the CSO. I do not care who he talks to. I am asking him to support the amendment, enshrine it in legislation and get this report. There is no point in coming in here year-on-year saying that the figures are out of date meaning we cannot have a rational debate and cannot make an informed decision. Anecdotal evidence means absolutely nothing. We need the most up-to-date figures so that we can analyse them.

I hope the Minister is sincere; I take him at his word. He says he wants to lift 97,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020. How can we deliver that if at that stage we will be making decisions based on statistics from 2018? It is incomprehensible. I ask the Minister to take this on board and support the amendment. If he wants to take children out of consistent poverty, we need the latest figures.

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