Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

Members have been discussing the household charge a lot in this Chamber. During the debate on the legislation underpinning the household charge, Senator Ó Clochartaigh tabled an amendment pertaining to poverty analysis of legislation, which proposed including such analysis in respect of that particular legislation. The Central Statistics Office has revealed today that the number of households at risk of poverty has risen to almost 16%. Moreover, the income gap between rich and poor grew from 4.3 times to 5.5 times. The Leader should arrange for the Minister for Social Protection, as well as the relevant officials from the social inclusion division of her Department, to come into this House to discuss how poverty-proofing legislation is approached. There should be a debate on having potential poverty impact analyses of legislation, on how one considers the legislative process and on how the decisions taken by the Oireachtas materially affect those who already are struggling. The aforementioned figures published today demonstrate that people are beginning to struggle and are being hit both materially and socially. This is an issue Members must begin to examine with real effect and this is the reason I call on the Leader to bring in the Minister for Social Protection, as in future, Members should begin to include amendments of the type previously tabled by Senator Ó Clochartaigh.