Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The reason the Taoiseach is announcing these measures today is because the Government did not do enough in the budget. Is that not the reality? This package is evidence of that. Instead of learning from its mistakes, the Government is repeating them. Can I quote the Children's Rights Alliance? It has said repeatedly that the increase to the qualified child payment is a crucial intervention to tackle child poverty.

At the time of the most recent budget, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul pointed out that, "Growing up in poverty is associated with the worst outcomes across all key aspects of a child's life." It also stated, "Government should have invested additional support to the poorest children through the Qualified Child Payment."

There has been an explosion in the number of calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul over the past year or so. Households with children accounted for 66% of those calls. What further proof does the Taoiseach need that there is an absolute requirement for the Government to make a specific intervention to improve the weekly incomes of poor families with children? Will the Taoiseach reconsider the decision to ignore these children who are living in the poorest families by increasing the qualified child payment?

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