Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann acknowledges:

that over 76,000 children are living in poverty in Ireland;

the fact that 1 in 5 children are living in households where the income is so low that they are at risk of poverty;

that the Towards 2016 agreement includes a commitment to work towards the elimination of child poverty;

Seanad Éireann therefore calls on the Government to:

develop a clear strategy to address child poverty and set a date in law by which child poverty will be eliminated in Ireland;

increase basic social welfare payments for families at risk of poverty;

ensure there is access to quality, affordable and flexible Early Childhood Education and Care;

tackle educational disadvantage by fully resourcing and implementing the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) strategy;

increase medical card eligibility for families;

ensure every family has prompt access to a secure, affordable and appropriate home.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John McGuinness. One of the missed opportunities of the past decade was the failure of the Government to address the high levels of child poverty. Figures for 2007 show that 80,000 children live in families which cannot afford basic necessities such as healthy food, warm clothing or heating. With the recent downturn in the economic climate and the surge in unemployment it is probable that greater numbers of children now live in poverty. Leaving these statistics aside, child poverty means many children went to school today with empty bellies. Many parents are unable to buy warm clothes for their children during this very cold weather spell. Children live in overcrowded and, in some cases, unhealthy accommodation.

We have many celebrated cases of children growing up in poor backgrounds and making it rich. We are all aware of the classic rags to riches story, "Slumdog Millionaire". However, while we salute everybody who can make it through such difficult circumstances in this world, the idea of vast numbers of children growing up in poverty and using this experience to become wealthy is just the stuff of Hollywood, Bollywood and Pinewood.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule but the generality is that most Irish children who grow up in poverty are less likely to complete their education and earn average wages and they are more likely to be unemployed as adults, endure poor health and die younger. Let us not forget that the Ireland of today is still a very wealthy country so our record on child poverty is unacceptable. A recent OECD report on the matter found that Ireland ranks 25th out of 30 OECD countries.

Instead of these appalling figures jolting the Government into action it appears we are going backwards. In 2002, the Government promised in the programme for Government that the effort to end child poverty would be a core element of its work. In 2003, the Government published the national action plan against poverty and social exclusion. This contained a clear commitment to reduce child poverty to just 2% by 2007. However, in 2007 the rate of child poverty stood at more than 7% and it appeared that any commitment made a few years previously had gone out the window. The current programme for Government agreed by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party makes no mention of child poverty. Perhaps they are of the view that it has been eliminated: I do not know.

Recently, the UK Government proposed legislation which will enshrine its commitment to ending child poverty in the UK by 2020. The UK Government seems to accept that it takes time to tackle and eliminate child poverty and that it does not happen overnight. It has targets towards which all Departments and agencies can work. Here, the Government had a target, it failed miserably to meet it and it now wants to avoid making any commitment to address the issue. This is not good enough.

The Labour Party believes the reduction and eventual elimination of child poverty is vital. We believe significant progress can be made but reducing child poverty requires concerted action and measures across a range of areas. This has long been recognised by non-governmental organisations. This recognition led to the establishment in 2002 of the End Child Poverty Coalition, ECPC, which is made up of seven organisations, namely, the National Youth Council of Ireland, Barnardos, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Pavee Point, Focus Ireland, One-Parent Exchange and Network, OPEN, and the Children's Rights Alliance. This coalition of seven deals with the consequences of child poverty on a daily basis. They run breakfast clubs so children do not start their lessons hungry. They provide direct supports so parents can meet the cost of food, clothes and school books. They run programmes to prevent children leaving school early and support families to get decent and affordable accommodation.

Since they work at the coal face of the problem they are well placed to advise us on what we need to do to address the issues and I commend the work that these organisations, their staff and volunteers do on a daily basis. However the members of the coalition do not want to deal solely with the consequences of child poverty, they want to deal with the causes as well. They put forward a very coherent policy approach to dealing with the issue. They propose Government action across a range of Departments and agencies in areas such as income and employment supports, early childhood education and care, education, housing and health.

Other countries which have much lower levels of child poverty have targeted income supports at the poorest families. They have invested heavily in public services. They have flexible employment policies to support parents who are working.

Decent work with a wage on which one can live obviously comprises one of the best routes out of poverty for many families. We must encourage and support parents to take up work and avail of job opportunities. However, for some parents, working outside the home is very difficult or, in some cases, impossible. Many children live in households in which the parents cannot work owing to illness or disability.

Many lone parents who would love to work outside the home cannot do so because of their caring responsibilities or because they would only obtain low-paid work that would leave them less well off after paying tax and meeting child care costs. These families are especially at risk of poverty and the only recognition of this by the State is the child dependant allowance. This is just €26 per week per child and in no way meets the necessary costs associated with rearing a child which the families in question face every day.

The other key issue the End Child Poverty Coalition has highlighted is the need to keep people who can work in work and to provide supports to families where parents are in low-paid employment. The Family Income Supplement, FIS, was introduced to increase the reward from work by providing low-paid households with additional income. In the current environment, in which prices are going through the roof while jobs are flying out the door, many families will be in greater need of the FIS. It is vital that we keep as many people in work as possible. Therefore, the proposal of the End Child Poverty Coalition to increase the income thresholds for the FIS makes perfect sense and is valid and necessary in the short term.

We must consider how the scheme is administered. Some of the conditions of the scheme and the bureaucracy surrounding it are such that only three out of ten families entitled to a FIS payment actually receive it. A similar benefit in New Zealand has a take-up rate of nine out of ten families. Once again, the organs of the Irish State are failing families, including children. Will the Minister of State reconsider how FIS is administered so the people entitled to it can obtain it?

Eliminating child poverty needs to be returned to the agenda because a childhood blighted by poverty, want and hardship impairs not only the affected child but society as a whole. This is why the Labour group has put forward this motion. We want the Government to take this issue seriously again. We want it to outline a clear plan of action with timelines, deadlines and targets to reduce and eliminate child poverty. We want the Government to vindicate the wishes of our founding fathers in 1916 that every child of the nation would be cherished equally. We want the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, to fulfil the promise he made on the day he was elected Taoiseach to the effect that the needs of young people would be a particular priority for his Government. We want the Government to uphold Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which calls on states to ensure children have an adequate standard of living. Most important, we want Ireland to be one of the best places in the world for children to grow up in.