Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I echo the concerns of my colleagues in the Social Democrats that only four children are to be welcomed here from Greece. The people we represent expect better. I urge the Minister of State and his Department to do more and do better. I say that respectfully, as I think he agrees.

Our motion speaks to an ugly truth in Irish society. It highlights a reality that is often overlooked. While the "term child poverty" conjures up images of 20th century slums, the fact is that over 200,000 children are at risk of poverty in Ireland and more than 90,000 are in consistent poverty. That is more children than the entire population of my constituency. These children are at risk of, or live in, economic and material deprivation. This means that they do not have guaranteed access to sufficient food, shelter, health care, and other essentials that so many of us take for granted. These are truly shocking figures, all the more so for a country that is considered one of the wealthiest in Europe. These children are living in households with low incomes. They experience what it is like to go without basics, to go without food when they are hungry or heat when they are cold and to grow up with entire families in cramped hotel rooms or bed and breakfast accommodation, without room to develop or a quiet place to do their schoolwork.

Analysis by the CSO has found that the risk of poverty is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. The consistent erosion of working conditions means that many farming and fishing families fall below the poverty line. At the start of the pandemic, volunteers in west Cork food banks were worried that they would not be able to get enough supplies to ensure families in my constituency would be fed. A primary school principal recently explained to me how several households were dependent on the school meals scheme. This reality often goes unnoticed. In both rural and urban Ireland, there are children going hungry or without the structures they need to develop healthily and to their full potential. Their childhoods will be book-ended by two recessions, and this will leave an impact on their opportunities and ability to reach their potential for the rest of their lives. We know children bore the brunt of the last recession. We cannot allow that to happen again.

These inequalities will perpetuate class and social division for future generations and lead to social exclusion for many of these children. They have not made this choice. They are victims of a society that does not see them as important as corporate tax breaks, or investment companies and housing developers.

We also know that poverty affects children from minority backgrounds or children with disabilities more. Our disability support organisations and professionals do amazing work, but they simply do not have the resources to help everybody properly. We all know stories of children waiting years for vital operations and therapeutic services, confined to inappropriate wheelchairs, or not being able to be educated in their area. If their family has the means, they can get these privately; if not, they must wait, sometimes in pain, for the State to get around to them. This is the reality of child poverty in Ireland.

It is a huge indictment of our society that child poverty continues to persist in any form, let alone in the significant numbers that we see today. Our youngest and most vulnerable citizens continue to be deprived of their childhood, their health and their well-being. It does not have to be like this. The eradication of child poverty is fully within our reach, and it can be done within the lifetime of this Dáil if the Government shows ambition and provides the commitment and means to do so.

Our motion today aims to address child poverty in Ireland and elicit a whole-of-Government response. We are echoing calls by Social Justice Ireland, the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, the Children's Rights Alliance and others. This Government needs to legislate to end child poverty and establish a child poverty unit, headed by the Department of the Taoiseach. The only way to do this is with collaboration across all Departments, including that of the Minister of State, and by poverty proofing every piece of legislation, starting with the budget. This motion is a means to end child poverty. It goes to the heart of why we are public representatives. We have a choice today. I urge our fellow Deputies both in opposition and in government to support this motion and to make a commitment not just to reduce child poverty or increase funding, but to implement real change underpinned by legislation and end child poverty in Ireland for good. We can and should end child poverty. I thank other parties for their support today and thank my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, for the work she has put into this motion.

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