Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)

I am proud the Labour Party has brought forward this motion. This Government has many things to be considering and reasons to be under pressure. There are 5,000 children are homeless and that one in five children is growing up in constant poverty. That will be the legacy of this Government. Food prices are up, energy prices are up, childcare fees are up and college fees are up. Rents, when you can find the property, are out of control. That is the truth. Families have nothing left to give. The food presses are bare and the bills are in arrears. Families are turning off the lights. A mother in my constituency told me that the one small treat she had was bringing her kids out at the weekend. That is gone because her food bill has shot up by 20%. That is the reality we are living in. The gap between those who have and have not is widening every single day.

The Government talks about full employment, but what good is a job when you need two to keep the lights on and when those on disability payments, carers and low-paid workers are trapped in deep poverty.

As mentioned by the previous speaker, the Minister gutted the tenant in situ scheme, which was literally keeping people in Dublin Fingal West out of homelessness. Now I am dealing with parents getting notices to quit with absolutely nowhere to go. One mother told me she does not have enough money for bread and milk for break from Tuesday to Friday. They were in the supermarket and the sister leaned over to her brother and said, "Put that chocolate bar back, we're poor". Imagine what it feels like for that kid to say that to their sibling. Imagine what it is like for a parent to hear that.

That is the Ireland we live in in 2025.

For years, children's organisations have warned that one-off payments are not the solution to poverty and that we need real systemic change. This has been ignored and instead the easy options were taken with gimmicks and promises of double payments. With no cost-of-living package this year, it seems we are pulling the ladder up behind us.

We know from decades of evidence that poverty scars childhood. However, when supports are directed at families most at risk the results are clear and fewer children go hungry, more children thrive and the gap between those who have and those who have not narrows. A second rate of child benefit would lift thousands of children out of poverty. We need a serious commitment to this in budget 2026 but it has to be targeted and not replace the measures already in place. We must remember that, when the Government claps itself on the back, families in this country are at breaking point.

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