Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government took its time listening to what is just plain common sense by making a move on these matters now in July and putting money in families' pockets when they need it and when it will count.

I ask the Minister to take the next step. He is surely not saying to families who have €621 a week that they are home and hosed, and that it is plain sailing for them. We describe these families as middle-income families. It is not; it is a very modest income. As the Minister knows, these families cannot qualify for many of the State supports that others on lower incomes can qualify for. Is the Minister saying to these families that they are on their own? He cannot do that. I appreciate the need for targeted measures. The Minister has borrowed from our proposals and I want him to complete the journey. We proposed a targeted approach. We are with him on that. He has to address the fact that he has left substantial numbers of families and children struggling. I want him to extend this scheme to capture those 500,000 children, who need this. Regardless of the Minister not going far enough in the political discourse, this is about families, and I ask him to simply follow the logic of his own argument and do the right thing.

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