Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

This House can talk about many different things. Today we are talking about child poverty. I thank the Labour Party for bringing this motion forward. I have to say that talk is cheap and action is limited when it comes to child poverty and this Government's record. I worked in some of Dublin's poorest communities for close to 30 years. I do not need to remind people in this House that there was an economic boom and there have also been crashes. The economy has been shattered but it has also been fantastic. I can tell the House that in some of the homes I visited, you would not know whether there was a boom or a bust going on because the poverty was so high and so deep that it did not matter. It did not affect any change of circumstances for those families. When I visited homes where families were living in deprivation, the emptiness there never ceased to shock me. There were empty fridges, empty cupboards, no warm coats, no toothbrushes, no heating, no school supplies, no toys, no books, no games and nothing for children, but there was lots of fear, lots of shame and lots of anxiety. There was love, because not one parent wants their child or their family living in poverty.

Intergenerational poverty means that there is a risk, although it is not fate, that children will grow up to be adults in poverty. Education is a mitigating factor to help with that. However, childhood poverty or economic uncertainty is associated with lower cognitive scores and lower attainment to junior cert, and indeed, retention to leaving cert. I could talk about this all day but the point I want to make is that no matter what the Government thinks it is doing and getting right, until no child is living in poverty it has not got it right. There is a way out of this but the Government needs to want to do it. I implore the Minister to do everything he can to do it, but his record so far is not proving that he wants to do so. I ask him to listen to what people here who have expertise are saying. I ask him to go to the experts and do what they say, rather than continuing to make up things that are not working for families. There are children living in poverty today - the numbers have been shared here - and it is a disgrace.

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