Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

No child in Ireland in 2025 should grow up without a home or without hope for the future. If this Government runs its full term, every single child in Ireland will have been born and grown up under a Fine Gael Government. Thousands of those who are children now are going to look back in the years ahead and ask why did this happen and why did they have to grow up in these circumstances.

Those on the Government benches opposite are at pains to tell us how well the economy is doing, reciting statistics on low unemployment, GDP and economic growth when, in reality, child poverty has reached crisis levels in Ireland and shows no sign of improving. In fact, quite the opposite is the case. Just last month, the number of children experiencing homelessness in Ireland reached a new record, with over 5,000 children in emergency accommodation, but that does not count all of the children who are in overcrowded, impossible situations. A total of 226 of those 5,000 children come from the west of Ireland and many come from my own constituency in Mayo. The impact of what they are experiencing - being pushed into poverty and forced into impossible situations - on their physical and mental health is enormous. They are experiencing increased anxiety, developmental delays and lower educational attainment. How in the name of God are children growing up in homelessness, in impossible situations or in poverty supposed to compete with those on the other end of the scale who can afford grinds and everything else that they need in order to get the best life chances? They cannot compete because of the failures of Governments throughout their childhood that have pushed them into these situations. The isolation, stigma and impact on self-esteem of poverty do not stop when children reach the age of 18. They continue on beyond that, with reduced life choices and widening inequality, leaving scars on those children for the rest of their lives.

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion today. Research from the ESRI reveals that one in five children is now living below the poverty line once housing costs are factored in. There is one thing that the Minister can do. Will he please reinstate the tenant in situ scheme? Right now, there are children that I am dealing with in my constituency who are frightened of losing their homes.

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