Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No amount of individual stories, no matter how genuine they may be, will change the facts. It is a matter of fact that in each of the past four years, the rates of consistent poverty and deprivation have been falling in Ireland. Deprivation rates have fallen for lone parents and child poverty rates have fallen from 12.8% to 12.7% in 2014 and to 11.5% in 2015, 10.9% in 2016, and to 8.8%, which was one of the biggest falls, in 2018. They will fall again exactly because of the policies the Government is pursuing. There is more employment and-----

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