Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. The figures I read out are from Society of St. Vincent De Paul, representatives of which appeared before the Joint Committee on Employment and Social Protection this morning for a prebudget meeting. Those figures are stark. The Minister mentioned a few projects and initiatives that have been introduced but they are not enough. What we need over the next one, two and three budgets is to take people out of poverty. That is crucial. We will face a recession in this country without or without a Brexit. Either way we need to invest and put a buffer around people who are the ones who suffered more under the austerity policies of Fianna Fáil from 2008 and under Fine Gael up to 2013 or so.

I repeat that the number of one-parent working families living in poverty has doubled since 2012 and 110,000 workers are living in poverty. The concept is that if one gets a job it will take one out of poverty, but unless one has decent wages and decent, unionised conditions, that situation will not change. I want to see a targeted approach. I will be watching the budget very closely to make sure it is gender, equality and climate changed checked. If it is not, I will come back to the Government again in the future.

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