Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

One of the first responsibilities of any nation is to make sure no child grows up hungry, without a roof over his or her head and without access to healthcare and education.

These are very simple and basic objectives that any republic should hold as its first priorities. The truth of the matter is that these are not the priorities of this State. That can be seen in the radical numbers of children and people who live in poverty, not just people who are out of work but also the working poor who are living in poverty in the State.

I have to agree to a certain extent with previous speakers that we often hear a lot of worthy words coming from Government parties around the issues of child poverty, but child poverty is not a mistake, an accident or a situation that has happened despite all the best efforts of previous Governments and the policies they were involved in. Child poverty exists because of the policies and efforts of and decisions made by previous Governments.

I heard the Minister speak. He spoke about the fact that he felt it was an extremely complex situation. Many family situations can be extremely complex. I have no doubt that there are a lot of individual reasons families find themselves in poverty, but in the general scheme of things the issue of child poverty is not a deeply complex one. It is a very simple issue. At the heart of it is the massive inequalities of wealth that exist in this country and the world.

We are living at a time where there is a phenomenal concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few individuals. Figures from a number of weeks ago show that about 2,100 billionaires have the same amount of wealth as 4.6 billion people, which is about 60% of the population of the planet. Jeff Bezos, who is likely to become the first trillionaire in 2026, will at that stage, it is estimated, have as much wealth as 137 individual countries. That is breathtaking. We are living at a time of income inequality that has not been as big since probably medieval times.

The reasons that is happening are many, but one of the key issues is tax injustice. It is feeding the massive wealth creation of a small number of individuals and as a result is robbing the vast majority of people of the ability to raise their families and put a roof over their heads, gain access to education and healthcare and feed their families. This country's taxation policies are one of the driving forces of tax injustice.

Aontú firmly believes that foreign direct investment is massively important for the development of the future of this country and we welcome foreign direct investment into this country, but we believe that it should be based on competitive advantages in education, transport, ICT communications and the quality of life that exists. It should not be based on bargain basement taxes, as is currently the case.

Wealth inequality is leading to massive poverty throughout Ireland. In my constituency, Meath West, my constituency office is the home of the Meath Food Bank. That organisation does massive work to make sure that the people of Meath have access to food in these difficult times. It has helped well over 600 families this year alone with the distribution of food packages. Most of the families who use the food bank told its head, Aisling Lowe, that the fears they had with regard to the return to school were not necessarily about to Covid but rather their ability to feed their children when school restarted.

It would be impossible to discuss the issue of child poverty today without discussing the policies of the Government with regard to Covid-19. We have to be careful and cautious about Covid-19. It is important that we socially distance, that people work from home where possible, that people do their best to keep the numbers down, etc. I also believe that the Government is involved in delivering policies that are having a radical effect on society, and which are causing child poverty now and will cause it in the future.

In his speech the Minister said he is carrying out research on the effects of Covid-19 on children, which I welcome. The Government is not doing enough research on the effect of its policies on poverty throughout the country at the moment. We do not have the necessary research on mortality and morbidity from non-Covid health issues. We do not have the necessary research on what is happening economically to many of our families. If the Government is involved in delivering such a radical economic policy without carrying out that research, that means it is, in many ways, operating blind and is operating a policy which shows that it does not understand the ramifications of that policy for the people of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of families have had their incomes radically reduced. The families who own small businesses throughout the country have had their incomes massacred. There is no doubt that the biggest driver of poverty is currently Covid and the Government's response to it. We are adding €30 billion of deficit debt onto the State this year. The State already has one of the largest national debts of any country in the world per capita. It is likely that within, three, four or five years - perhaps within the lifetime of the Government - we could have a debt of €300 billion a year in this State. That would be a radical debt and would mean we would have to increase our interest repayments significantly. Interest repayments currently cost the State about €6 billion per year, which is two-thirds of the education budget from preschool right up to fourth level. If that has to be increased to about €9 billion over the next number of years in order to meet that new debt, that is an opportunity cost. It is money that will come out of housing, education, healthcare and the pockets of families throughout Ireland. It will add significantly to child poverty within the country. It is time for the Government to challenge and fight Covid in the best way it can, but we need some level of proportion, balance and understanding of the ramifications for the rest of society of those policies.

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