Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Members who have supported the motion. While I thank the Minister for his contribution, I was incredibly disappointed with it because it did not address the issue. In order for us to solve a problem, we must acknowledge that it exists. The Government's amendment does not recognise that there is a problem with poverty or child poverty in this country. It suggests the Government thinks that the steps it and previous Governments have taken are sufficient for us to address the major issue of poverty that we have.

Simply by setting a target to pull 70,000 children out of consistent child poverty over a seven-year period, the Government of the time acknowledged that it was okay to leave 30,000 or 35,000 children behind. I do not believe it is acceptable for any child in this country to live in consistent poverty. Any child who does live in consistent poverty reflects a failure by the Government in its duty of care to those children.

When we set such targets, we are acknowledging that we are okay with allowing a certain number of children to fall between the cracks. That is not okay. It is why the Social Democrats have set a target of elimination. It is only then that we will show real leadership on addressing this problem. We need to be ambitious. It is not ambitious to say that we will leave thousands of children behind because our policies cannot be refined or robust enough to deal with them.

The Minister stated that the programme for Government committed to addressing child poverty, but it does not even mention the term "child poverty". The Minister referred to how we needed evidence to address the issue, but we already have that evidence. We have target after target that we have not met. We have report after report. For example, there have been 12 reports on one-parent families and poverty. We have the reports and evidence that we need. We do not need any more. Rather, we need action to address these issues. The children who are living in consistent poverty now and who were living in it in the previous recession need us to move quickly. Otherwise, we will burden them through our inaction and poor decisions. It is not fair.

I was disappointed that the Minister did not take the opportunity to be strong and brave on this matter. As new Deputies, we come into the Dáil and think about what we can achieve and the difference we can make. The Minister, his party colleagues and every other new Deputy have come to the Dáil with those ambitions, but it is through decisions like the one to be taken today that we will actually realise them. It will not be done by postponing, playing politics with or ripping everything out of a solid motion and replacing it with something that is wishy-washy and has no concrete targets or objectives. That is not how we will address this issue. The children of the country deserve much better.

Deputy Connolly referred to how it was difficult to get a quorum today. I wonder whether that was because many Deputies were up watching last night's debate in the US. This raises a point that we need to be conscious about. We look to the US in shock, horror or, sometimes, derision. Unless we start tackling our systemic societal issues, we will split our country in two and face the exact same situation as the US or, indeed, the UK, with whole generations left behind and feeling disenfranchised. It is on a day like today that we can actually stop that from happening.

Before they vote, I call on all Deputies, in particular Government Deputies, to please think about why they got involved in politics and what they wanted to achieve. Our children need us to be brave and ambitious. They need us in their corner. They cannot afford to bear the burden of our inaction or bad policy decisions on their shoulders any longer.

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