Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is a very sad debate because we have heard so many sad stories. Figures are interesting but they do not touch, to any extent, on the significant poverty there is out there. We recognise that. I have many figures I was going to talk about, but we have had so many figures already I would prefer not to do so. I would like to talk about the opportunity for us, as individual citizens, to do something ourselves, rather than relying on the Government to do it. There are things we can do ourselves and there is enough evidence that there is a major demand for it.

I remember when I first started in my business we had a small space given over to pet food and over the years the space for pet food on the supermarket shelves increased. There is a significant number of people in our society who do not realise there are children who are very hungry and are in great need of a huge amount of help. Yet, we concentrate, to a very large extent, on looking after our pets rather than our children.

I would like to spend a couple of moments talking about what each of us can do individually. I have had some experience of seeing the joy one can bring to somebody who is lonely. There is a term I came up with many years ago called "STAR". We can give people a STAR. It stands for four different words. The first word is something we can give even if we have no money, the "S" of star, that is, "smile". We can give somebody who is poor, lonely and desolate a smile on the road when we meet them. The effect that can have on children is amazing, particularly on those who feel lonely, bullied or left out of society. The second letter is "T" and it stands for "time". The effect of us being willing to give a little bit of time to somebody who needs help is amazing. It could be a neighbour and or somebody whom we do not even notice because we do not pay attention to them. The third letter is not that far removed and is the "A" of star, for which I use the term "approachable". We can make ourselves approachable. It is really interesting to see, when one makes oneself approachable, how willing people are to approach, people who would otherwise feel shy about doing so. The last letter stands for "recognition", being able to find and ask somebody "What's your name?", and calling them by their name.

These are little things but I am using them as examples because it seems that almost all of tonight's debate is saying what the Government should do or what it is not doing. One may ask why the Government does not do more, but each of us can do a huge amount individually to help in this area. I have some difficulty with those who say that we have gone a long way towards solving child poverty and therefore we should relax. I know that no speakers here have said that and we recognise there is a lot to do, but there are things that we can do individually.

Some years ago, I was asked to go on a partnership programme about jobs. I went there with a lot of ideas but discovered that everybody else was saying "We must call in FÁS, the Government and Forfás to do it." However, we can do things ourselves on an individual basis. In the few minutes available I want to encourage us to remember that we can do something about child poverty. Bringing a little bit of joy to somebody through our efforts can alleviate their suffering in some small way. In addition, as Senator Norris said, we can support the work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

For many years I was involved in the Christmas day dinner that used to take place in the Mansion House, but is now held in the Royal Dublin Society. It was run by the Knights of St. Columbanus and as many as a thousand adults attended. In the past 20 years, however, a large number of children have been going there. They would not have had any Christmas dinner if it was not laid on by a charitable organisation. There are things we can do, therefore, and we should do them.

Just before Christmas, UNESCO published its report card on how children are faring in developed OECD countries. Most of those countries met at least half the benchmarks. One of them, Sweden, met all ten benchmarks, while France, Finland and Norway met eight. A number of countries that are significantly poorer than Ireland, including Hungary, Slovenia and Portugal, met at least four. Even Mexico, whose GDP per capita is just over a quarter of ours, managed to meet three of the benchmarks. Ireland met precisely one, that of having 50% of staff in early childhood education with relevant third level qualifications. As a result, Ireland is at the bottom of UNICEF's league for looking after our children.

The Government is trying to do something and is defending itself, but I congratulate the Labour Party on tabling this motion, which gives us a chance to debate the matter. I recognise the Government's commitment towards achieving progress. The debate has been useful, but let us not ask the Government to do everything in this regard — let us do something ourselves also.