Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

5. To ask the Taoiseach the number of times the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform has met; and if he will provide its forward schedule of meetings. [33563/16]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

6. To ask the Taoiseach when the next meeting of the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform will take place. [34562/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

7. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service last met; and the status of its work. [34889/16]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I ask the Taoiseach to be conscious that three Members will want to ask supplementary questions.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 7, inclusive, together.Since the formation of Government, the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform has met on three occasions: 4 July, 15 September and 22 October. The meetings of the committee are scheduled on an ongoing basis, with the next meeting scheduled for 12 December.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am very curious to know what exactly this committee is doing in the area of inequality, with which it is tasked to deal. It seems to me, particularly given recent events such as the election of Mr. Trump in the US and what many people are calling the rise of extreme populism, that the question of tackling inequality is central to addressing inequality. The political establishment, in all its wailing, hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, laments what it calls the rise of the extremes at the expense of what I think the Minister, Deputy Coveney, called the sensible centre. The political establishment should recognise that the lesson of what has happened in the United States and much of Europe with the rise of the extreme right is that it is a response precisely to the extremities of inequality that are growing across the globe, which are the responsibility of the so-called sensible centre. It has been under the sensible centre, so-called, that the extremes of inequality that are destabilising our society have grown. I put it to the Taoiseach that there is a remarkable and alarming symmetry between the levels of inequality that form the backdrop to the rise of Mr. Trump and those that exist in this country. That is the real lesson, if we are to take seriously the danger that Mr. Trump and his like represent and if we do not want to see a repeat of it in this country. The levels of inequality in this country have grown shockingly under the Government's watch and under the watch of the Labour Party previously. The number of children suffering deprivation has doubled, we have one of the highest proportion of people working on low pay almost anywhere in the OECD - we are in second place - and the gap between the rich and poor has grown exponentially. All of these factors are witnessed in the United States as well.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that two of the Deputy's colleagues-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

One second.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

They may not get an opportunity to contribute.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Sure. All of these factors-----

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If there is fairness-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will be finished in a second.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This is about equality of time.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Four minutes have been taken up and the other Members wish to contribute. I am just being fair to all.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle had not interrupted me, I would be finished by now. My point is that the extremities of inequality that have grown in the United States in recent years are mirrored and echoed here under the Government's watch and need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If the Taoiseach agrees, to be fair to the other two Deputies who wish to contribute, Deputies Adams and Burton, they will ask their questions and he can give an overall response.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I also wonder what the Cabinet committee on social policy does. One of the big injustices on our watch is the incarceration of people in so-called direct provision centres. The Government has failed to implement any of the 173 recommendations of the McMahon report, which was published a year and a half ago. An tUachatarán, Michael D. Higgins, described the proposals as reasonable and practical. He went on to say that the refusal to allow asylum seekers the right to work is heartbreaking and immoral. He said their treatment was narrow and mean and he urged an amnesty for those who have been here for longer than five years. There are 4,301 people in direct provision centres. Some have been there for one and a half years. A total of 604 have lived in these centres for more than five years. They are not allowed to cook for themselves, they are not allowed to work and there is a limit on how far their children can progress through our education system.

Christmas is only seven weeks away. I have visited the direct provision centre in Mosney several times. It is like Long Kesh without the watchtowers, the barbed wire and the armed guards. I know we are short of time and I do not want to be greedy. Will the Taoiseach tell us when the recommendations of the McMahon report will be implemented? Will he update us on the status of the immigration and residency reform Bill? Will he tell us when the International Protection Act 2015 will come into being?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In view of the fact that Ireland and its people face a series of existential crises relating to Brexit and, potentially, in respect of the changes coming into effect in the United States, does the Taoiseach consider that some form of national distributional accord is desirable? Should efforts be made to engage various social partners, employers, trade unionists, farmers, community and voluntary bodies? Will the Taoiseach consider that in the context of the challenges we now face? If the Taoiseach has a different approach in mind, will he indicate how he and his Government intend reconciling all the emerging competing demands for resources and how, as a country, he proposes we might navigate the challenges we face?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Boyd Barrett raises an interesting position that if the centre forgets the extremities, it causes friction, anxiety, rage, street violence and a growth of the hard right and left. I agree with the sentiment and in many cases it is what has happened. As the Deputy indicated, the so-called sensible centre has forgotten the extremities. It has not happened here. The north inner city is a case in point, because people were neglected and things were left behind. It is critical that Government is not just listening but is engaging and going to act.

The committee deals with a range of social issues, such as discussing the expansion of preschool provision under the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, the publication of the Government's action plan for educational inclusion, developing the new national disability inclusion strategy, implementing the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities, establishing a task for on personalised budgeting for people with disabilities, and developing a new national drugs strategy. It also deals with initiatives to address the problems in the north inner city and the establishment of a youth mental health task force. The Cabinet committee is committed to progressing strategies and some of them have happened. There has been the publication of the Action Plan for Education and an increase in the number of special needs assistants to 12,600 to the end of 2016, an increase of 2,235 since September 2011.

There has been the establishment of the Irish refugee programme to take up to 4,000 refugees here in Ireland. With regard to the McMahon report, the vast majority of those who have been here for more than four years have been dealt with, except those in judicial review. New legislation takes effect early in January and we will fast-track applications. Self-catering has been introduced to Mosney and it will be replicated in other places. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is looking hard at what can happen here.

There has been the introduction of two weeks of paternity leave and an associated social welfare payment, the expansion of the preschool provision under the ECCE programme and the implementation of the McMahon report findings on direct provision, including the upgrading of facilities in direct provision centres. We have seen the establishment and ongoing work under the north inner city task force, as well as the establishment of the youth mental health task force. They have been done. There has been progress in including key new national strategies relating to disability inclusion, Traveller and Roma inclusion, the national women's strategy, integration and the new national drugs strategy. Additionally, budget 2017 provided for a new single affordable child care scheme, with universal subsidy for children aged between six months and three years available for all families. There was also the increase of €5 per week in the State pension and all social welfare payments, a cut in the universal social charge for middle and lower income earners, an increase of €100 in the tax credit for home carers and an increase of €36.5 million in funding for higher and further education. These are important issues.

The best example is the fall in unemployment to 7.7% and an increase in the number of people working to more than 2 million. It is the best route from poverty. We have not done all that we would like to do, and that is why Deputy Burton's point is so important. We must have a managed process to deal with everybody in a fair way so as not to destroy the economic gains made both by the Deputy when she was part of the Government and for the future. Nobody wants to wreck this now.