Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome this very important initiative from the Ombudsman for Children regarding child poverty and homelessness. I acknowledge and thank Dr. Muldoon and his team for all of the great work they have done as advocates for children in recent years.

It is almost exactly a year since I introduced my first Private Members’ motion, as Social Democrats spokesperson on children, calling for a very similar initiative to the one the ombudsman has put forward in the document, A Better Normal. In our Dáil motion, we called for the Government to agree to a new to a new and ambitious target of eliminating consistent child poverty within the lifetime of this Dáil, legislate for this target and establish a special Oireachtas oversight committee on child poverty to monitor the implementation this target. This was my first Private Members’ motion and I introduced it with equal measures of enthusiasm, optimism and I think naivety. Coming to the Chamber to move what I thought was a very important motion, I thought that no Government could turn down an opportunity to put in the infrastructure and plans to address what is a national shame. Unfortunately, I was wrong in that. The Government replaced my motion with a countermotion which had a target in line with the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures target. Whereas my motion did not go anywhere, the Government reiterated the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures target, which set out to reduce by 70,000 the number of children in consistent poverty by 2020. That target was missed.

To compound this frustration, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth announced that the policy successor of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, which expired at the end of 2020, has been delayed until 2022. In the years since this Government rejected the Social Democrats motion to eliminate child poverty within the lifetime of this Government, it has missed its own child poverty targets and has delayed the development of its follow-on policy. This is a very worrying track record on the part of the Government as it continues to promote the reopening of the post-Covid economy. If the economy does not recover to pre-pandemic levels, regrettably, the reality is that the child poverty rate in Ireland could increase. The ESRI has calculated it could increase by one quarter.

During the previous recession, child poverty rates doubled, resulting in one in five children being at risk of poverty. It is a stark reminder of the risk to children arising from a recession potentially caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

When we last debated this issue, I could not get my ahead around the fact that for many of these children this will be the second recession will have allowed them to suffer through. While we do not have official child poverty statistics for 2020, we can assume that the risks of poverty have increased due to job losses caused by the pandemic, persistent cost barriers to childcare and education, a widening digital divide during school closures and, most crucially, the housing crisis, which is a key focus in the Ombudsman for Children’s report. Now more than ever, the Government needs to implement the ombudsman’s initiative to establish a special Oireachtas committee with a clear target and cross-departmental engagement to address the endless cycle of child poverty in this country.

It is very welcome that Ireland signed up to the EU European child guarantee in July, reflecting the ambition that every child in Europe should have access to free healthcare, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition, with a primary focus on disadvantaged children, including those experiencing poverty, ethnic minority children and refugee children. However, we have a long way to go. Families continue to face the inordinate task of navigating the high cost of childcare, the cost of education, rising rents, a lack of progress in implementing Sláintecare and growing waiting lists for social and affordable housing across the country. Imagine how families are coping when dealing with being at risk of homelessness and with those emergencies. As soon as this happens, childhood is robbed and life will never be the same again. Preventing this from happening is key.

The latest homelessness statistics show that over 2,000 children are currently living in emergency accommodation. It is an absolute shame that this has continued. We cannot address child poverty without addressing child homelessness. The recent report from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, and the ESRI stated - this is something we will all be aware of - that lone parents are predominantly impacted by this. They represent 53% of all homeless families. It is very welcome that the Ombudsman for Children is calling for the right to housing to be inserted in the Constitution. My colleague, the Social Democrats spokesperson on housing, Deputy Cian O’Callaghan, has suggested exactly what the ESRI has also been calling on the Government to do, namely, address the current housing crisis using the low cost of debt to invest in housing. We have very many organisations, experts and now the Ombudsman for Children all saying the same thing. The Minister and Government must respond to these calls and must act to eliminate rather than just reduce child poverty and homelessness.

I also mention a topical issue at the moment, namely, the impending energy crisis. Coupled with rising inflation and the cost of living, this is a devastating cocktail for anyone facing poverty. Energy bills have risen by 19% since last year and are set to increase even more this winter. This will, no doubt, impact on low-income households and those already experiencing fuel poverty. I have asked for statements to be facilitated in the Dáil to discuss the energy crisis and flesh out these issues because this could be a very difficult winter for many people.

I will use the remainder of my time to encourage the Government to set a firm target to reduce and eliminate child poverty in a new national children and youth strategy, to begin immediately working on the successor to the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures strategy, and to implement the initiative set out by the Ombudsman for Children by establishing a special Oireachtas committee on the elimination of child poverty. The Government has already lost a year due to inaction. In fact, we have lost many years due to inaction and it is time to act.

The Social Democrats, and I imagine the majority of Deputies, are more than prepared to work constructively with the Government to address these issues.

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