Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for introducing the Bill.

Given the surplus of resources the Government was faced with entering this term, budget 2024 should have heralded real change. It should have looked to the future, tackling inequality that has become entrenched. It could have addressed the chronic underfunding of public services, bringing them up to, at the very least, European standards. We are told the money is available.

I understand that a multibillion euro surplus serves as a cushion for a rainy day when we really need it; however, for families around the country, that rainy day has come. For many, it has been raining for a long time. We should be considering a Bill committed to tackling the increasing level of child poverty to uphold the right of all children to live a decent life. Instead, we are considering a Bill of half measures.

The Bill should aim to achieve a fairer tax system and a more equal society, one in which we start to close the gap between the better off and less well off, which has grown during successive terms of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments. It should transform the lives of those with disabilities, adults and children by prioritising vital supports and services. It should do so much more for those who are in greatest need. The nonchalance the Government has shown when it comes to child poverty is somewhat shocking.

Tusla is undergoing a staffing crisis. The State agency is failing in its statutory responsibilities. There are only 26 bed spaces in the special care system but they cannot be filled due to a staff shortage. Tusla's recruitment and retention problem is putting young people in the care of the State in direct danger, and budget 2024 did not begin to cover what is needed to address these systemic issues. In recent weeks, we heard absolutely harrowing stories of parents of children with severe special needs from the Ombudsman for Children. The Ombudsman outlined how parents themselves have been too afraid to admit how exhausted and stressed they are because, whenever they have, the HSE has referred them to Tusla and questioned their fitness to parent. Other parents say they have referred children to Tusla due to the impact on their other children, in the hope of triggering the support they need for the referred children.

The meagre increase outlined in this Bill would not even be appropriate for a country with a functioning healthcare system that provides for children with complex needs, but a payment this low within the current system for additional needs does not even scratch the surface of the costs parents are faced with when caring for their children.

The Taoiseach promised a strong focus on child poverty in the second half of this Government's term in office, but where is the evidence that the Government will achieve that? It is running out of time. A €4 increase to the qualified child payment, a payment that the ESRI repeatedly points out would have great potential to target child poverty if substantially increased, is a joke. The experts and organisations working in this area made it abundantly clear that a €15 increase for children over 12 and an increase of €10 per week for children younger than that is the least that is required. The failure to fully fund therapy, early education and childcare for children experiencing the worst disadvantage is clear for all to see, as is the failure to create a DEIS-plus programme for children in the most disadvantaged schools.

Child poverty is a life-changing affliction. Emotional development, educational progress, mental health, physical well-being, career opportunities and income in later life are all affected. The next generation is being set up to fall. There was an opportunity in this Bill and the budget to show real compassion and a commitment to finding an antidote for this affliction, but the measures outlined fall desperately short.

Income thresholds for the working family payment will increase by €54 per week, regardless of family size, from January 2024. This approach is a one-size-fits-all all measure for families in Ireland. In what world does it make sense for a family of three to make do with the same amount as a family of six?

Those living with disabilities have been equally failed. People with disabilities consistently have among the highest poverty rates of any group in Ireland. The rate is three times that of the general population. More than two in five people with disabilities experience deprivation at any one time.

A cost-of-disability payment has been needed for many years. This payment would be a way for the State to acknowledge the significant additional cost to having a disability, which the Government's own report entitled The Cost of Disability in Ireland states is between €9,000 and €13,000 per year. Disability is not temporary, yet it was treated as such when a once-off payment was announced in the budget. A €30 weekly cost-of-disability payment, which the Social Democrats advocated for in the budget, would amount to €1,560 over the course of a year, which is more than three times the Government's one-off payment.

The costs associated with disability are recurring, unavoidable and often very high, and that should be recognised. Our suggested payment was the bare minimum that this Bill should have set out. Other core social welfare rates should have been increased by €25 per week to protect those who are most vulnerable, especially in the face of the rise of inflation.

The Government has long shown a disregard for disability groups and advocates and this is highlighted by the meagre €12 increase to core social welfare rates, which is an effective cut that leaves disabled people and other vulnerable people behind.

The MESL, the minimum essential standard of living that a person needs to live a life of dignity, is substantially above our current core social welfare payments. The cost of a basket of goods has increased by 10% nationally and 13% in cities over the past 12 months. We live in a country in which 760,000 people are living in, or are at risk of, poverty. The only sure way of combating this is to increase core social welfare rates and benchmark them to the MESL. The failure to adequately increase core social welfare rates or indicate that they will be benchmarked against the minimum costs of living is hugely disappointing. It is more short-termism from a Government obsessed with short-termism.

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