Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

These figures are serious and of concern but they are from 2023, the year the data was collected. The Government had not yet, at that stage, brought in free school meals for all primary school students or free schoolbooks at second level. I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge these measures have had a significant impact on many families and are making a real difference to children in poverty, but we have to do more. We have had a series of cost-of-living packages but we need something better than cost-of-living packages on an annual basis. Unlike any other government in Europe, we have been in a position to bring in those kinds of cost-of-living packages, but we need a sustained, targeted child poverty initiative, which I am working on with the child poverty unit in my Department to prepare for the forthcoming budget.

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