Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

I acknowledge the supports the Minister mentioned, but we have not seen sufficiently ambitious targeted measures and strategic investment in recent budgets designed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It is critical, therefore, that there is a focus in budget 2026 on breaking that cycle.

The cumulative impact of continued rising costs of living has created a landslide effect for low-income families such that the very basics, such as nutritious food and keeping their homes warm, become increasingly difficult to achieve. We need to see a major scaling up of the Equal Start programme and an extension of DEIS Plus to address disadvantage at the early stage. We must also benchmark our social protection system to the cost of a minimum essential standard of living to ensure that everyone has enough to sustain a decent quality of life. All future budgets must be poverty-proofed and set against the targets of the anti-poverty strategy. At a very basic level, we need a radical change in housing policy. One in four children lives in conditions of overcrowding and more than 4,700 children living in emergency accommodation. This will require ideological change from the Minister and the Government. Not embracing that change will cause untold damage.

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