Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The rhetoric I listened to about child poverty showed an oblivion to the standard way in which it is measured. The Minister might tell me if we have opted out of that. If she accepts the universal index of child poverty used in Europe, Ireland lies towards the bottom of the list. We have remained there as we got rich. Moreover, our expenditure on social protection dropped as we got rich. While other countries use their riches to improve social protection, we have used our riches to look after certain groups which this Government decided were deserving.