Phil Prendergast (Labour)

On behalf of the Labour Party, I second this important motion on child poverty. It is shocking and unacceptable that 76,000 children in this State live in poverty and that a further 205,000 live in households where the income is such that they are at risk of poverty. This figure is rising all the time given the present economic circumstances.

I commend the work of the End Child Poverty Coalition on keeping this issue on the agenda. Senator Hannigan has spoken about income and employment supports, but I would like to focus on public services such as child care, education, health and housing. I will focus on child care first.

The first few years in any child's life are critical in terms of learning and development. For children living in poverty, preschool could be the first step on a path out of poverty. The current lack of affordable, flexible and quality early childhood care and education and afterschool care prevents parents from taking up employment and availing of job opportunities, which only serves to keep the family stuck in a cycle of poverty.

The Government claims to be committed to providing families with access to child care services appropriate to the circumstances and needs of the child. In particular, it claims to be concerned about families living in poverty. However, its record speaks for itself. In the budget, the Government shut down the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education, which was about to roll out a plan, costed at €700,000, to address the early education needs of children in the most disadvantaged communities, aged from three up to the age of school enrolment. That programme was ready to run in September 2008 but, at the last moment, the plug was pulled.

Responsibility for the programme has now been transferred to the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I would welcome clarification from the Minister of State as to when that programme will be implemented. Many groups fear it has in fact been abandoned. If so, it would demonstrate this Government's penny-wise and pound-foolish approach. The National Economic and Social Forum report of 2005 found that, for every €1 invested in early childhood education and care, a return of up to €7.10 could be expected.

I support the proposal from the End Child Poverty Coalition that we should provide universal, free, quality preschool places for all children aged from three to four years by implementing the National Economic and Social Forum's blueprint for universal access to early childhood education and care. The roll-out of these places should begin with children who are disadvantaged, including those in RAPID and DEIS-designated areas. Likewise, in the formal education system we need to invest to ensure children living in poverty get a fair chance and the opportunity to achieve their full potential. The announcement today that children availing of special needs teachers are to lose them is a retrograde step that will have long-term consequences and will not lead to cost savings.

We all know free education at primary and secondary levels is a myth. The cost of schooling places a terrible burden on families living in poverty who must meet the costs of books, uniforms and a range of other necessities associated with keeping children in the school system. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has stated very clearly that the back-to-school grant paid out in August each year is way below what is required. This is evident from the attendance rate at my clinics and the genuine hardship people experience and which they experienced during the so-called boom. Even in the latter period, the clinics were still busy owing to there being people with unmet needs. Organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul support families on a weekly basis to meet the costs of keeping children in school.

We have discussed in this House the issue of the very large class sizes. At present, Ireland has the second largest pupil-teacher ratio in the European Union. There are 100,000 children in primary schools and 35,000 young people in secondary schools being taught in classes of 30 or more. Large class sizes have an impact on all children but because of the deficiencies in the system, many parents must pay to ensure their children get extra support or tuition. That option is not open to parents who struggle to make ends meet and, therefore, children living in poor households will fall further behind.

Child poverty contributes to early school leaving. Parents who struggle to keep their child in school may be less likely to object when their 15 or 16 year old gets a job rather than staying in school to obtain a leaving certificate because doing so brings necessary extra money into the household. As my colleague Senator Hannigan pointed out, it is the voluntary organisations represented by the End Child Poverty Coalition that must deal with the consequences.

The member organisations of the National Youth Council of Ireland are working on projects with young people to prevent and stem early school leaving. Despite all the evidence and every report known indicating that supporting young people so they can stay in school and gain some recognised qualifications is in their best interest and that of society's, the Government in the budget cut the funding by 10% to youth organisations running early school leaving projects. This is a retrograde step that will not have a positive outcome for anybody. It defies logic.

We still have a very high rate of early school leaving. Up to 15% of children leave school with little or no formal qualifications. This is particularly a problem among children who grow up in poverty and unless we invest in them and target resources at them, we will perpetuate the cycle of poverty and deprivation.

I will turn briefly to the issue of health. No parent would think twice about going to the doctor when his or her child is sick. However, because the costs of health care are so high and the medical card limits are so low, parents with limited incomes who bring their children to the doctor must either forgo other basic needs or go into debt. It is unacceptable that the health of our children is so far down the list of priorities that parents are placed in such a terrible position.

There is a commitment in the programme for Government to double the income threshold limits for families with children under six. That is to be welcomed. However, almost two years on there is no sign of the commitment being implemented by Government. We need answers as to why that is so and perhaps an update on a revision of the proposal. In real terms the cost of implementing the measure would be far outweighed by the benefits it would bring to the health and well-being of the most vulnerable children in the State. Likewise, it would alleviate the awful cost and burden of health care on families who just cannot afford it.

Finally, I wish to mention housing. The housing waiting list figures announced in December showed an increase of 30% since 2005. Many of those on the waiting lists are low-income families who are currently in costly, unhealthy, overcrowded and inappropriate housing and accommodation. Insecurity is another issue for families that have to move regularly and that can interrupt a child's education and well-being. I strongly support the call by the ECPC that the Government meets its commitment to build 10,000 social housing units over the next three years.

We have heard much about the need to invest €7 billion in the banking system for the future of the country and that may be so. I urge the Government to give more attention to and invest a fraction of that money in the reduction and ultimately elimination of child poverty in this country.