Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the measures that have been taken. I also welcome the increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. That is an important initiative and it is important that it was increased, especially this year.

Something does not add up if we have approximately 370,000 people working in low-paid jobs and we have 47,000 people receiving the working family payment. Many more people should be accessing the working family payment, which is an important support, in particular when it comes to the current level of child poverty. I think it was the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that put forward a proposal to establish a cross-party committee of the Dáil to consider child poverty, which is clearly growing and should be causing alarm bells to go off for everyone in this House. That we have 62,000 children living in consistent poverty in 2022 in one of the richest countries on the globe is a major issue. It is something we have not got to grips with, and we need to do so very quickly. The Government should consider establishing such a committee.

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