Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for being here and for his indulgence. I know he is very busy. My slant on this is with regard to social and family affairs, which is my brief. I am concerned about children in poverty and 76,000 children in this country are in poverty. Education is a proven route out of poverty. However, for children in poor families full participation in school is a luxury which they cannot afford. One of my colleagues, Senator Pearse Doherty, alluded to this when he asked whether it is a right or a privilege. I believe education is a right.

Many poor and unfortunate children feel excluded from the system which is not able to meet their needs. A truly inclusive and responsive education system is required to lift the poorest and the most marginalised children out of poverty. I am sorry to state that the recent budget and the cutbacks in education will only further affect the voiceless in our economy, especially the most vulnerable, namely, our children. I know the Minister will agree they are our greatest asset, our future and what will lift this economy in years to come.

Some 5,000 young people leave school annually without having done their leaving certificate, one in ten leaves school with serious literacy problems and one in nine lives in consistent poverty, goes to school without a proper breakfast, does not have a warm coat and is cold. How can one learn if one has all these problems?