Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an overview of the two reports by the child poverty and well-being programme office recently published by his Department. [8041/25]

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty programme in his Department. [9481/25]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [12375/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [12378/25]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach for an update in respect of the programme plan for child poverty and well-being 2023-2025. [12936/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach the progress made by his Department in reducing child poverty and promoting well-being. [13487/25]

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty programme in his Department. [13733/25]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty programme in his Department. [13734/25]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [13744/25]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty programme in his Department. [13751/25]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty programme in his Department. [13753/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [13820/25]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [13975/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [15662/25]

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach for an update in respect of the programme plan for child well-being. [17121/25]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach for an update in respect of the programme plan for child poverty and well-being 2023-2025. [17214/25]

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together.

We are retaining the child poverty and well-being programme office in the Department of the Taoiseach because we know we need to continue to build on the work to break down silos between Departments and drive delivery. We will not be able to make a decisive impact on child poverty without a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response.

From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Poverty and Well-being 2023 to 2025 was published in August 2023 and is the initial programme plan for the child poverty and well-being programme office. The programme builds on six focus areas which have potential to bring about significant change for families and children. These are income assistance and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating family and parental assistance, health and well-being; and enhancing participation in culture, the arts and support for children and young people affected by poverty. The programme plan is intended to be a living and dynamic document. As we need to, we will revisit our priorities to make sure we are focusing on those things that really make a difference. In 2025 we will start to develop the second programme plan for the office. We will consider carefully what we have learned so far and what remains to be done.

The role of the Department of the Taoiseach is to co-ordinate and focus Government action. To help to facilitate this the office has established a cross-government network on child poverty and well-being. The network has met five times to date with the next meeting due to take place soon.

On 23 May last year the programme office hosted the inaugural child poverty and well-being summit. This was an important moment to take stock and shape the agenda for future action. I very much look forward to hosting the second summit later in the year. Budget 2025 is the second year of spending plans on child poverty and well-being co-ordinated through the programme office. The second budget report captures a wide range of initiatives in budget 2025 which reflect the cross-government ambition to reduce child poverty.

I was delighted recently to publish the programme office's first progress report, Child Poverty and Well-being in Transition: Learning and Adapting to Accelerate Change in Children's Lives. The report presents progress updates for the six focus areas while acknowledging challenges and highlighting emerging lessons and priorities. The impact of the programme office is also outlined.

I am encouraged that the report shows the programme office has genuinely strengthened cross-government focus on addressing child poverty. In the years ahead, I expect the programme office to report on even greater progress that would help to transform the lives of children and families.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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A number of initiatives under the Department of the Taoiseach deal with the issue of child poverty and tackling disadvantage. Enda Kenny established this in the north-east inner city and the Taoiseach rolled that out to other communities, including my own in Ballymun. The former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, established the child poverty unit. As we head into the second part of the programme, there is the possibility to try to bring some of those programmes together and embed them into each of the Departments. While leadership from the Taoiseach's office is really important in a programme like that, we also need sustainability in those programmes. In particular, I ask that the child poverty unit looks at those areas covered by the north-east inner city roll-out model, for want of a better word, and that the two units work closely together or are brought together.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach identified the six areas where the Government sees the potential to make the most difference to children living in poverty. One of those mentioned is family homelessness. If the Taoiseach will forgive me, I am going to be parochial on the issue. As the Taoiseach will be aware, the homelessness figures are calculated monthly per region for nine different regions.

A consistent statistic is that outside Dublin, the west region has the highest number of child dependants accessing emergency accommodation. This has been consistent for some time. The west region contains counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon and of these, Galway has the highest number. Data is not available but my expectation is that it is Galway city where most of the families and children in need of emergency accommodation are. A more alarming statistic was that at the end of 2024, 28 families in the west region had to rely on emergency accommodation for over two years. Outside Dublin there is no other area where that is comparable and that is deeply discomforting and concerning for someone who is a public representative for that area. Families and children in Galway are suffering disproportionately. Other regions with larger populations do not have the same number of children reliant on emergency accommodation.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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I want to raise the crucial issue of child well-being in terms of children with scoliosis, in particular three children who had unauthorised metal springs inserted in them by a surgeon. The report was published at 12 noon, so I have only had the chance to read the executive summary so far but it makes for pretty horrifying reading, including making the point that the type of metal is "known to corrode in the presence of moisture". In other words, it could have effectively been rusting in children, which is horrific to think of. The Taoiseach made the point earlier, which I agreed with, that what happened should not have happened and that an important responsibility needs to be taken here by the surgeon responsible for buying the springs and inserting them into the children. However, the broader question remains unanswered, which is how this was able to happen and continue over a period of time. It may have continued were it not for a very brave whistleblower who spoke out resulting in parliamentary questions and a series of important articles by Pádraig Ó Meiscill in The Ditch. Those questions remain unanswered, which is why the families are calling for a public inquiry into everything that happened here - how it was able to take place. Does the Taoiseach agree with this call? Does he agree that it should be expanded to include all of the operations performed by this surgeon, including those on adults? I have been contacted by at least one adult with serious concerns about how they were treated. I raised it previously in the Dáil. If the surgeon was operating in this way with children, why not with adults?

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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On the topic of child well-being, I wish to discuss an immensely cruel anomaly whereby a parent who has been convicted of unlawfully killing the other parent of a child retains his or her guardianship of that child. Retention of guardianship in this context means that the convicted person must be informed about the child's situation, consulted in major decisions being taken for the child and can influence the child's placement. A Bill was brought to Cabinet in respect of Valerie's law. When will that Bill be brought before the Dáil? Research demonstrates that the best outcomes for children in these terrible situations is to be placed with the victim's family not under the perpetrator's control.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We all wish Deputy Boyd Barrett the best of luck. It is apt to do this during Questions to the Taoiseach because if ever there was a Deputy who made very great use of Questions to the Taoiseach, it was Deputy Boyd Barrett.

When we talk about child poverty, we are all aware of the added costs of dealing with children with additional needs. The issue of special school places and the fact that we had parents in here who were at their wits' end have been raised multiple times today. I raised the case of Senan Maguire, a 13-year-old autistic boy who is now out of school, with the Taoiseach. There has been engagement with the Minister. We need to ensure that Senan is returned to school as soon as possible and that he definitely has a place next year. We need to make sure the multidisciplinary team is there so we can avail of CAMHS-ID, for which Senan and his parents have been looking for a considerable period of time. The big issue is that when we get to a one-stop-shop, there is no wrong door and that we have the follow up regarding school-based therapies and assessments because we are dealing with failure at the minute. It worries me when I hear about the likes of Scoil Bhríde Shelagh, which said it was sanctioned for two ASD classes but has only been okayed for one. This needs to be followed up.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The work of this programme on child poverty is hugely important for the future of the country. When looking at childhood poverty, the State could look at its causes, namely, single parent households, households where nobody is in employment and intergenerational poverty. Often our social protection system puts constraints and restraints on single parent families preventing these parents from going out to work and leaving them in that poverty trap. The State spends over €4.5 billion dealing with the consequences of poverty when money could be spent on targeting and eliminating poverty. What about setting up an Oireachtas committee on youth affairs to look at youth mental health, youth poverty, the youth sector, youth services and the capital programmes that could be set up to empower young people to ensure they do not fall into mental health difficulties but take the right path because if we do not look after our young, we will not look after our future?

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I add my voice to the well wishes to Deputy Boyd Barrett. Regarding the well-being side of the child poverty and well-being committee within the Department, our commitment as a Government to establish DEIS Plus is an important milestone. The Taoiseach will appreciate that in constituencies like my own, there are a breadth and intensity of challenges that simply do not exist in other communities. These include intergenerational poverty, which was just mentioned, and intergenerational trauma. That is one of the characteristics of the asks of those schools involved in caring for these children. They talk about nurture rooms and trauma-informed practices. Over the past five to ten years, one of the biggest learnings that has been made by school staff is the idea of nurture schools or trauma-informed practices in schools. The idea is simple. Children clearly cannot be in a position to learn unless they experience love, care, safety, routine, predictability and structure. Could the subcommittee look at the establishment of these nurture rooms in the DEIS Plus context?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The February figures for homelessness showed that 5,653 children are without a home. Child homelessness has deep and lasting impacts on children's lives and well-being. It is associated with childhood poverty. The tenant in situ scheme was a key measure brought in by Government that sought to address the root causes of child and family homelessness and enable people to stay in their homes as social tenants yet it has simply become ineffective in protecting families and children from homelessness. The Irish Times reported yesterday on a young woman with children aged three months and 18 months who is facing homelessness because of unnecessary restrictions on the tenant in situ scheme. She is on HAP. Her landlord is happy to sell to the council and does not want to see a family made homeless but the home does not qualify as it has not been in HAP for two years. Across the country, many of us are hearing stories of families being excluded from the scheme because of changes that have been made and a smaller allocation for the scheme. On the Taoiseach's watch, child homelessness is at record highs and rising and it is shameful to see this. The tenant in situ scheme was one measure to seek to address and alleviate child homelessness. Will the Taoiseach reconsider the changes that have been made and ensure that families will be protected and that the scheme will become effective to secure people in their homes?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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One child living in poverty is one child too many nonetheless we must recognise that major achievements have been made. ECCE, increased child support payments, the free clothing scheme, free school books and the meal allowance have helped to support families in dire need. Points were made by Deputies Bacik and Connolly about child homelessness as being one of the key issues affecting children living in poverty and it must be tackled aggressively. It is an area where Bertie Ahern's slogan applies. A lot has been done generally about child poverty but there is an awful lot more to be done. In tackling the problems of dysfunctional families, drug abuse and substance abuse generally, we need to look at resourcing local communities, family support centres and so on to give them the resources to work locally to support people in dire need.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach will remember that on 4 March I raised in the Chamber the case of 16-year-old Mikey Henry, who suffers with scoliosis. Mikey, along with his parents Penny and Michael and his sisters Clara and Cate, travelled from Mayo to the Dáil last week and while they were here they met the Minister for Health. I want to sincerely thank the health Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for taking the time to meet the family but now is the time for action. They want an independent second opinion on his surgical options. His parents are requesting the help of a spinal specialist who deals with specific complex care along with a respiratory expert either in Ireland or abroad to get a full and thorough assessment on whether surgery can be done at this critical stage. Mikey’s consultant appointment in Crumlin hospital has been cancelled for the fourth time. This means he has not seen a consultant since August 2024 and all the while his condition worsens. I ask that the Taoiseach work with the Minister to ensure there is an urgent intervention.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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I, too, want to formally send our very best wishes to Deputy Boyd Barrett.

I want to ask what kind of monitoring there is on the well-being of children, particularly disabled and vulnerable children, in our children’s hospitals. Will there be any accountability by successive Ministers for the fact that the HIQA report published today outlines how there was no written approval for springs that were used in children’s bodies yet there was a post-holder for new treatments; no engagement with the ethics committee; poor process and communication; lack of formal multidisciplinary structures; no formal safety checks; no purchase order number for the equipment; a deviation from decontamination procedures; and parents not fully informed of bespoke and experimental procedures? It is not only that but also the unnecessary hip operations that have been carried out on a number of children. Some 561 patients in Temple Street and Cappagh hospitals have been recommended to be recalled. Parents are asking for a statutory inquiry. Nothing less than that is needed. We cannot have another review. There are questions which the Taoiseach and the Ministers with responsibility for health must answer.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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On child homelessness and the 4,653 children growing up out of home, I want to mention one such young person. Arash is just 14 years old and has spent the last three months in emergency accommodation with his parents and baby brothers. He is 21 km away from school, with no direct links to it. Arash told me that he is 14 years old and should not have to fight this hard to get his family a proper home. What is the Taoiseach doing to help Arash and his family and the thousands of children like him?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of questions there. Deputy McAuliffe started on the model that has been developed in the north east, and there is something similar in Ballymun. I have asked my officials to look at broadening that model out to certain areas, as we had before. In previous times, under the former Minister, Pat Carey, or Noel Ahern and others, going back to Pat Rabbitte’s time, the drug task forces were established in about 12 areas across the country. I have seen at first hand the impact of the north east inner city initiatives. They have been quite impactful and effective. I would be interested in progressing through the work in the Department of An Taoiseach and the sustainability of those models. They do not yield results immediately. When we establish these models we should be clear they are there for the long haul as a constant intervention. That is very important.

Deputy Connolly raised the specifics of family homelessness. Family homelessness is a very significant issue in terms of child poverty. It is something we need to focus on very keenly over the coming months, which we will do. I will look at the Galway situation because those figures are quite high. The objective is to get people out of emergency accommodation as quickly as we can. There were about 8,500 more social houses built last year and, on top of that, a couple of thousand more leased or acquired. We have had a higher number of social housing units coming on stream in the past three to four years than we have had since the 1970s. There is an issue, then, with regard to what is happening. The dynamic is changing. There is a complexity to the composition of homelessness today that was not there five or ten years ago - certainly ten years ago. If you look at the raw data at the moment, it does not say anything. Some 50% of those homeless now are either EU or non-EU citizens. There needs to be a greater analysis of why that is happening. I was talking to homeless organisations during the week. There is a need for greater analysis of the trends that are creating a lot of pressures in the homelessness area. No one should be there for two years. They should be exited much quicker than two years.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised an issue which we dealt with during Leaders’ Questions. I believe what happened was fundamentally wrong. I do not believe a public inquiry is the way to do it. I have looked back over the years since 1997. If you look at all the inquiries that have been conducted across the board in different areas, €500 million has been spent on inquiries. The House needs to think about that. People get very annoyed, and rightly so, about individual projects that might cost €1 million of an overrun and they talk about value for money, yet we willingly come in here every week and we say we want an inquiry into different areas. Inevitably, these inquiries last years. They do not give you closure and they do not give victims the closure they want. They cost millions of euro. I do not mean this in any negative way towards the legal profession but there are huge fees involved. We need to ask ourselves honestly the question of whether a public inquiry is now the first course of resort as opposed to being one of last resort. I think HIQA is doing a good job here. Maybe HIQA is the vehicle if there are further issues. We have two other reports to come and we should then look at those three reports in their entirety. We have to look at other mechanisms to get the basic facts surrounding any given situation. It does not necessarily mean a public inquiry that will last years, and, believe me, it will last years. Look at Siteserv. I think Deputy Murphy was in the House at the time. He will recall how there was meant to be ten modules and it took us years to get one. We had Project Eagle. It cost millions. It came out of this House. What did it come up with? It did not see anything untoward at the end after all of that. The institutions that we set up to investigate things must be better and must do their job. Otherwise, what is the point of having GSOC, HIQA, the Health and Safety Authority and various other bodies if we bypass all of them and say we are going for the inquiry or a commission of investigation? At the moment there could be six or seven issues on the agenda in respect of which a Government Minister will be asked to hold an inquiry. I understand where people are coming from – they want answers – but sometimes they are led to believe that the inquiry is the preferred route to an answer. It is not the preferred route, I think, having experienced so many of them leading to such disappointment when they are published and at such enormous cost. There is also an ethical question of whether a lot of those resources should be allocated to the children in need today. Tusla needs more resources. Children with special needs today need resources. Children in poverty need resources. These are fundamental questions that we, as politicians, should take on the responsibility of asking. The funding will not be there for everything. There is prioritisation involved here. There may be an inquiry in 20 years time about the neglect of certain kids under the care of Tusla – I just picked that out; there may not be – or it could be on other matters. These are legitimate. That is all I would say. HIQA, for example, did the report into CervicalCheck, or Dr. Scally did, and did a good job there. It is a good illustration of how there might be other ways of getting to the truth faster and with the victims in mind.

On Deputy Gannon’s question, the Minister for Justice has brought that through Cabinet, Valerie’s law. I hope that with the co-operation of the House we can get that progressed as quickly as possible. I cannot give a timeline on that.

I join with Deputy Ó Murchú in sending best wishes, as I did earlier, to Deputy Boyd Barrett. This is certainly a platform that he enjoyed utilising quite a lot, effectively and with impact, and we wish him well.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised the issue of child poverty, as did others, including Deputy McGreehan.

I would hope that the budget becomes the focal point for dealing with child poverty and children with special needs in terms of income-related decisions. That will mean the targeting of funding to those who need it most. The SILC data is not good in that consistent poverty went up from 4% to 8%, although the overall deprivation index came down a small bit. We have to be prepared to target resources through social protection to children in poverty and children with special needs. As Taoiseach, I am responsible for this unit and intend to co-ordinate that with the Departments of Social Protection, Education and Health to make sure we target our resources, so we make a definitive impact on children in poverty and children with special needs.

Deputy Lahart's was a very good idea on the well-being side. On DEIS Plus, at the moment there are about 1,200 schools under DEIS, covering about 260,000 students. About €180 million of targeted support is allocated annually to the DEIS programme. There is a need to target that more to DEIS Plus in respect of intergenerational trauma and intergenerational poverty, which was spoken about, and the idea of predictability.

In the north-east inner city good work has been done in the early years on multidisciplinary therapy provision, which has helped children enormously in terms of reducing anxiety. As was said, they are then prepared to learn and are in a position to learn once they go into the classroom. That is something we are very keen to do.

Deputy Bacik raised the issue of homelessness. I have dealt with that generally.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The tenant in situ scheme.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There was a need to target that too because it was being used by some local authorities as a catch-all and maybe not targeted at those who were about to become homeless or in danger of becoming homeless.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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What is the problem with that?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was never meant to be a scheme to just buy second-hand properties. The Minister is engaged in refining and targeting that. I will talk to the Minister in respect of that case. It is not that the person was not two years on HAP but that the house was not in HAP for two years----

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It was the house.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Again, the idea of being in HAP means you are within the social housing provision and the prospects of homelessness are higher there, so the idea is to target the resources there. I will talk to the Minister in respect of that case and come back to the Deputy.

In response to Deputy Ó Fearghaíl, in fairness, "a lot done, more to do" is correct. There needs to be more focus on what the Deputy described as dysfunctional families and the multidisciplinary teams I spoke about earlier in the north-east inner city. Those are very effective ways and I would like to see DEIS Plus look at that. We are doing the idea of multidisciplinary teams in special schools. When we roll out DEIS Plus, I would like to see it applied there as well. We would get significant outcomes.

In response to Deputy Conway-Walsh, I will talk to the Minister in respect of Mikey Henry. The Deputy spoke to me last week about that case. As I said to her last week, I think a second opinion should be facilitated and if it is necessary to go to the States or elsewhere - I think there was another case-----

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, or London.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Whatever, we should do so. They regularly do refer people to London.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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There are blocks.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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In response to Deputy Coppinger, I have dealt with the public inquiry. I have views on that. I think there might be better ways of getting to it. Again, we will assess it fully when we have the other two reports - the one on dysplasia and the Nayagam report, which is the overarching report. When we have both of those with this report, we can progress it.

I have answered Deputy Cian O'Callaghan's question.