Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Certainly, I agree that budget surpluses do give choices but the kite flying by the Taoiseach's own party this week suggests that his choice is to insist on a Fine Gael ideological agenda of tax cutting at the expense of providing the necessary public investment to deliver services for people who are struggling to make ends meet. It is at the expense of investment in meaningful measures to tackle child poverty, which is a commitment the Taoiseach made, and yet we see more than 188,000 children living in poverty, such as those whose stories were told in the Barnardos report today. I appeal to the Taoiseach and Government to ensure the necessary investment is made.

I thank the Taoiseach for engaging with me on the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte's, commitment. I thank him for saying the work is under way on that. Of course, we want to see the six regional assessment teams in place. I ask him again to ensure the necessary public investment is in place so those assessment teams are in place in order that the backlog of assessments of needs can be met in that way, and that he will abide by that timeline of 1 August given by the Minister of State which the children and their parents so desperately need.

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