Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Child poverty and homelessness are concerning issues. Regardless of the number of children who fall into those categories, the aim should always be for zero cases. Zero cases may be almost impossible to achieve because of a wide variety of factors but it should still be the aim. The press release of the Ombudsman for Children, which I welcome, provides food for thought. We can clearly see the link with the general housing problems that exist at present. There is a lack of Government action, the buck is passed and increased barriers to supply are among the main factors preventing the building of both public and private housing. Every time county councillors vote to stop a housing development or every time a law passes here that makes it more difficult to build houses, the problem is made worse.

There is one point contained within the ombudsman's document which needs addressing. On the right to housing he states: "Ireland must enshrine in our Constitution the Right to Housing for everyone in Ireland." Calling for this is a major red herring. If the Government of the day wants to ensure a right to housing then it can do this through policy and action. We do not need to involve the Constitution. Perhaps the problem with such sentiment being contained in the Constitution is a different debate but suffice to say that the goal of eradicating homelessness can be achieved without changing our Constitution and spending millions of euro on a referendum.

Those millions would be better spent on building houses and on effective, not ideological, planning policy. I have been very clear on that point a number of times. The ombudsman also calls for the targeting of services, something for which I regularly call. Often, the provision of certain services is limited. The statement mentions free school meals and supports for everyday expenses to help parents with the costs of rearing their children. I would add that supports such as re-training for parents' education and lifelong skills, and employability training, could be also targeted to help alleviate child poverty. In other words, not just a hand-out but a hand-up. Both are important but, perhaps, the hand-up is more important when it comes to trying to break the cycle or to solve the problem on a long-term basis.

How best can this be done? The problems and challenges need to be identified. How often are services evaluated based on feedback from service recipients? It seems to me most State services are designed or amended based on instructions from the Government, often with little or no regard for the end user. Many months ago, I tabled a Topical Issue for the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about family carers being re-designated and removed from their clients, which was causing those with acute needs much hardship and anxiety. Thankfully, the Minister of State responded and acted on the problem, but that issue served as an example of how a major policy change in service provision did not take into account the perspective of the end user or recipient.

From a business point of view, we must look at customer needs and what the customer wants. Thankfully, in modern times childhood poverty levels have reduced, as have general poverty levels. I am sure we have all heard our older family members tell stories of walking miles to school in bare feet, having to share a small bedroom with lots of other siblings or a whole variety of other things. However, the general improvement in overall poverty levels in the past century should make us even more keen to continue to help improve the best we can the situations of many of those who are worst off.

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