Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach his views on the creation of a new division within his Department focusing on child poverty [1634/23]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [4218/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the new division in his Department to address child poverty. [4371/23]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach if he is considering the establishment of a new division in his Department to tackle child poverty. [4414/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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22. To ask the Taoiseach his views on the creation of a new division within his Department, focusing on child poverty. [4416/23]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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23. To ask the Taoiseach his views on the creation of a new division within his Department, focusing on child poverty. [4419/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 to 23, inclusive, together.

Our vision is to make Ireland the best country in Europe in which to be a child. The role of the Department of the Taoiseach is to pull things together and co-ordinate Government action so that it is targeted. Poverty restricts a child's opportunities. The new unit will build on what has been achieved by Government and place a greater focus on improving the lives of all children in Ireland. The aim is to have the unit established by the end of March and preparatory work is under way.

As a first step, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and I met with representatives from the Children's Rights Alliance to discuss the development of the new child poverty and well-being unit. Further work and engagement is ongoing to inform the scope and programme of work for the unit. The aim is to ensure the unit brings co-ordination as well as strategic leadership and enhanced accountability to the child poverty agenda and makes a tangible difference to the lives of children and families.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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My question aimed to elicit further information and I certainly welcome what I have heard regarding a broad Government approach being needed to address child poverty. Poverty cannot be looked at in isolation and, on that basis, the inclusion of well-being is welcome.

One of the issues relating to well-being is education. Access to education is as important as healthcare. Will the new unit consider the issues children across the country have faced with regard to childhood disability networks and access to them and access to diagnosis and the supports that flow from those diagnoses?

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I work with an organisation that gives out food parcels and provides meals. The uptake is a concern. I spoke to families when the double children's allowance was given out in November. Many families told me they bought food with the payment because with Christmas coming, they wanted extra food. Every week, I contact the Minister for Education to ask her to look at one school or another seeking DEIS status. This is the key to everything. I welcome the fact that 14 schools in County Carlow received DEIS status this year, which is the highest number ever, while ten schools in County Kilkenny received DEIS status.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We must get the Deputy to move to County Kildare.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Every school should be a DEIS school because under it, students get hot meals, including lunches, which is important. It is also important to mention free school books for primary schools this year. These are the things we need to do to make sure parents have enough money to pay for extra costs because of the cost-of-living crisis. I ask the Taoiseach to consider that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for the update on the new child poverty unit but we still need more detail. In particular, does he have specific objectives or targets he intends to meet in addressing the critical issue of child poverty?

Given the severe shortage of early years and childcare places, will he set up a public model of delivery for childcare that can guarantee children a place in early years education? Regarding socioeconomic discrimination, which is at the heart of this intended unit, does he support the addition of socioeconomic discrimination as the tenth ground in equality legislation as another way in which child poverty might be addressed?

Regarding access to specialist health services for children with disabilities, particularly those from families with less means, I am aware of some families having to go the Society of ~St. Vincent de Paul for financial assistance to pay for speech and language therapy because they cannot access it anywhere else. Other colleagues have had the same experience. Will the Government commit to refunding parents left with no choice but to pay for essential healthcare and supports such as this for their children?

Regarding access to specialist health services for children with disabilities, particularly children from families with less means, I am aware of some families having to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for financial assistance to pay for speech and language therapy because they cannot access it anywhere else. I know other colleagues will have had the same experience. Will the Government commit to refunding parents who are left with no choice but to pay for essential healthcare and supports like this for their children?

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It goes without saying that many children are affected by the housing crisis and disability supports that are not available. Let us be clear. If we are talking about real and meaningful change in tackling child poverty, we need to look at the pathways available to many of us be they through education, apprenticeships and employment. A significant number of people are born without those supports and that scaffolding. Major early childhood supports are needed. If we do not do that, we will constantly fail a number of citizens. What we need is a multi-departmental approach to give those supports to those families and children so we can provide them with the pathways the rest of us have. Some of that is down to money, which provides opportunities that a significant number of people do not have. This is gross inequality and this is grossly wrong.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Because of the State's failure and neglect, many children are literally having their childhood stolen from them. If the new subcommittee is to be of any use, it must do tangible things about that. I will provide two examples. On Friday of next week, a working family with two teenage children, one of whom has special needs, will be evicted from their home despite the eviction ban mentioned by the Taoiseach. The family has done nothing wrong. They have paid their rent and their taxes all their lives and they are going to be evicted from the home in which they have lived all their lives. When I go to the council or to the Minister, I am told there is no scheme for them. There is no scheme in which this family fits so they think they will be living in a car in about a week.

Another case I have raised with the Taoiseach and others for four years involves a mother, who ironically works with Tusla and vulnerable children, whose child has lived with her in emergency accommodation for four years. His mental health is on the floor. His mother does not tick any of the boxes. She is slightly over the threshold for this, there is no scheme for that and so on. These children are suffering. One group of children will be suffering more in a week and there is no scheme to help them. Will this unit intervene in cases such as that and tell the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage or another Department that children are not suffering any more; they are not going to be forced to live in a car or if they have been in emergency accommodation for four years to get the children out of emergency accommodation because their childhood is being stolen from them?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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When Deputy Varadkar became Taoiseach again, he spoke about his vision to make Ireland the best country in Europe to be a child. The point has been made about hot school meals and the substantial impact that can have on children. Why is at least one school, and presumably others, in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the country having its entitlement to hot school meals removed? That is happening to St. Aidan's Senior National School on Brookfield Road, Tallaght. The school authorities were previously told by the Department that they were entitled to access the hot meals scheme. They made arrangements with Glanmore Foods and installed industrial ovens. The pupils completed their food orders. They have recently been informed that their school is not entitled to access the hot school meals scheme, even though it is a DEIS band 1 school. It does not make any sense whatsoever.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We once again have record homelessness figures. Nearly 3,500 children live with that trauma. I ask the Taoiseach, as his first move in dealing with child poverty, which requires dealing with poverty itself, to commit to extending the ban on evictions, which is due to run out in a short number of weeks. As a confidence-building gesture around this commitment to deal with child poverty, I ask that the damage that was done post crash, in Fine Gael's years in government, to the community sector, community development and the very supports that families, children and young people, in particular, rely on across communities, but especially in the most disadvantaged communities, be undone. We need investment and resourcing in our young people and children. That needs to happen through family supports and public services. Hot school meals and so on have been mentioned. Crucially and critically, if the Government is serious about this, it has to be done in the form of robust, resourced community development. Sadly, the Taoiseach's party in government has a record of destruction of that very infrastructure. I hope he will turn the tide on that, change direction, and invest, invest and invest. It is the smartest money the State will ever spend.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies for their contributions. Deputy Farrell raised the children's disability network teams. They will not specifically fall under the remit of the new unit. They will fall to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, with the transfer of disability functions to her and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, which will happen on 1 March, but it is relevant to the well-being aspect of the unit's work. I hear the frustration that parents have and endure when it comes to not being able to get assessments of need and particularly when it comes to not being able to get the treatments and therapies that their children need. I had the chance in the past few weeks to spend some time in Barnardos in my constituency and at family resource centres in Kildare and Newbridge. I recognise the good value that we get from the services they provide. It is money well spent and the return on investment is good. We will invest more in these areas in the years to come.

The hot school meals is a great programme. I am a big fan of it. I do not know the details of St. Aidan's and why it is no longer part of the programme. If Deputy Paul Murphy wants to send me the details, I will certainly have it looked into. As Deputies will be aware, the roadmap for social inclusion is our national strategy for poverty reduction and improved social inclusion. It includes a specific chapter on helping children and families with the goal of reducing child poverty and ensuring that all families can participate fully in society. The roadmap incorporates the national child poverty target identified in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the national framework for children and young people, which requires a 66% reduction in the number of children in consistent poverty by the end of 2021. We had been going in the right direction in that regard in recent years, but the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis that has followed has thrown that, which, unfortunately, will show up in the numbers quite soon.

The roadmap includes two commitments specifically relating to child poverty targets. One is to establish and report on a new target in respect of child poverty to improve Ireland's ranking from 20th to the top five for the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, SILC, reporting year of 2025. This will be the equivalent of reducing the percentage of children under 18 at risk of poverty and social exclusion from approximately 24% to 16%. The roadmap includes continued reporting on progress on the national target for reducing the number of children experiencing consistent poverty by the end of 2020 and setting a new target for the period to the end of 2025, consistent with any revised EU targets.

The aim, as I mentioned earlier, is to have the unit established by the end of March with a clear work plan. Preparatory work is under way in that regard. Further work and engagement will inform the scope and programme of work for the unit. The aim is to ensure the unit brings added value, as well as strategic leadership and enhanced accountability, to the child poverty agenda and makes a tangible difference to the lives of children and families.

The issue of a public model of childcare has been mentioned. I will have to speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, about that. Perhaps the right way to approach it, if it has not been done, is with the pilot of a few publicly-provided childcare facilities to see how they work, how they compare to the private sector with regard to quality, cost, reliability and so on, and perhaps take it from there.