Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I am sorry, but I was invited to refer to it.

I wonder if Government Members understand how child poverty is defined. It is defined relative to children living below a certain proportion of the average income of a State. On this index, we should be profoundly ashamed of ourselves. For a country so awash with the rhetoric of children and family, we have one of the highest incidences of child poverty in western Europe. We are obliged to have that as a necessary condition of the way the Government operates to maximise inequality. Figures are quoted, such as the €150 pension figure, or whatever.