Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State but I regret that the Minister of State with responsibility for children could not find the time to attend. I commend the Labour Party on a fine, detailed motion in which it calls on the Government to "develop a clear strategy to address child poverty and to set a date in law by which child poverty will be eliminated in Ireland". As natural as this request sounds, the reality is that the Government no longer believes in strategies when it involves tackling any kind of poverty. This is no more evident than in the way the Government has shamelessly cut funds and merged the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office for Social Inclusion, thereby removing a vital independent voice. We have also witnessed the effects that cuts in funding have had on the Equality Authority and other agencies. Perhaps the Government may retort that a strategy is in place and Senator Corrigan mentioned this, but there is a gross difference between having a strategy and providing resources for its implementation and achieving the aims set out in it. I am sorry that the Government's record of implementing findings from its strategies is poor.

The national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS, was set up in 1997 with specific targets for reducing poverty. Unfortunately, they were aspirational but a multi-departmental and agency approach was taken. Among the strategy's aims was the Government target to reduce consistent child poverty to 2% by 2007. In 2002, a revised strategy was launched in the form of another glossy brochure by the Government with the social partners but these strategies have not been delivered.

As Senator Hannigan stated, Ireland ranks 21st out of the 27 EU member states in tackling child poverty, and one in nine of our children live in consistent poverty. Shame on the Minister of State because this is an outrage. All this proves is that the Government does not take strategies seriously. I call for a strategy to be put in place and for a date for its implementation to be set out in law.

The causes of child poverty in Ireland are multifaceted and I will not attempt to outline all of them. There is, however, an onus on us all in this House to provide assistance to little children, who are our most valuable asset. The recent ISPCC television advertisement highlighted that the organisation only has sufficient money to answer half the calls it receives. The money set aside for the scrapping of e-voting machines should be diverted to the society. It is serious that suicidal children may not have their call answered because this organisation does not have sufficient money. Money is available for the banks and to address other issues, but our children are our most valuable asset.

The Government is out of ideas and it is not interested in helping the less well-off. It has demonstrated no foresight and no opportunities have been created for children living in poverty. As Senator Prendergast said, lone parents are most affected by this issue. Child poverty does not exist in isolation and the issue centres on households. This cycle needs to be broken. According to an EU survey conducted in 2006, lone parents are the most likely social group to be living in poverty. According to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 45% of calls for help in Dublin in 2008 were made by lone parents. For example, the society referred to Anne, a lone parent with a 12 year old son. She is struggling to get by and pay her ESB and gas bills on an income of €180 a week. She could not afford them and, therefore, she swallowed her pride and called the society for help. Her main concern was protecting her son so that he did not realise she must do this because she has no other recourse. This is a terrible indictment of our society. We have emerged from the Celtic tiger era when we never had as much money, yet the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has never received as many calls, especially from lone parents.

I wonder how the cycle will be broken. I am concerned that, because of the economic downturn, the Government is more likely not to respect the voiceless and these poor, unfortunate children, which is worrying as they do not have anybody to shout loudly on their behalf. However, as public representatives, that is what we are in the House to do.

The final issue I would like to raise is educational attainment. In 2006, according to the CSO, 47% of lone parents under 35 years were educated to junior certificate level only. The Minister for Education and Science cut the funding for children with learning disabilities, which will lead to a further deterioration in consistent poverty because education is the only route to empower people to get out of poverty and to make them self-reliant to cope independently in our society. All these figures would be much worse if a survey gauged the position today. Something must be done to help young lone parent families to get out of the poverty trap. Some lone parents feel they are better off on social welfare payments because they can make ends meet. They will never get out of poverty but what example is that to give children?

I completely and utterly agree with Senator Corrigan regarding vaccinations. It is an absolute shame that the Government did not consider it worthwhile to implement the cervical cancer vaccination programme for teenagers, given it would cost very little.