Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 6, before section 4, to insert the following new section:

"4.—The Minister shall, within 3 months of the commencement of this Act, lay a report on the effectiveness of Child Benefit and Child Income Support as a tool for tackling child poverty, before the Houses of the Oireachtas.".

I compliment the Minister on his thinking since he came into the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the efforts he has made to bring about reforms in the short time he has been there. I agree with the Minister's argument that we can no longer solely accept that giving money to people in certain circumstances will improve a family's lot. The same could be said in the case of children.

I agree that we must find better ways of tackling child poverty. It is a disgrace that we still have so many children in this country living in poverty. Money is obviously essential to unemployed people or those on low income and we must give financial assistance. Over the years, however, we have seen that merely giving money is not the only option for lifting people out of poverty. The Minister is taking an approach that takes this into account. I have not yet gone through the document launched by the Minister some days ago regarding support for lone parents, but I know there are many factors in it which will help lone parents. It clearly follows that it will also help children.

I recognise that child benefit has increased significantly over the past number of years, but do we have any way of measuring if the increase has taken children out of poverty? Have we been able to measure the benefit of the increases parents have received? Many children still, unfortunately, go to school without a breakfast or warm clothes to wear and do not have a hot meal during the day. We use these indicators to distinguish children who experience poverty. Their attendance at school suffers, affecting their literacy and overall education.

We are creating another cycle of poverty. If some people were trained to manage their income, meagre though it may be, they would have sufficient to feed their family properly. The key is managing the money they have. It is very difficult to live on social welfare benefits but there is a lack of training for certain families to manage their money and break the cycle of poverty that has affected them for generations. The Department of Social and Family Affairs, along with others, must adopt a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the curse of poverty affecting many families.

I acknowledge the approach the Minister is taking. I do not say we should cut back on financial support but other things must be done to support families, such as providing training and other support mechanisms. Has the Minister any indicators that the improvements in child benefit have had a positive effect in taking children out of poverty?