Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue, which I raised already last week, of the CSO survey on income and living conditions. I was surprised that it did not make the radio or the newspapers at the weekend. The survey has confirmed that child poverty has been rising sharply during the economic downturn. This means that many children in the country are living in consistent poverty, meaning they are living both at risk of poverty and experiencing deprivation. The figure has doubled, from 6% to 12% between 2008 and 2013. As I said last week, the Minister, Deputy Burton, is acting in a brutal manner in the cuts made to payments to lone parents and parents who are trying to work, and in what she is intending to do in July. We must put a stop to it. We should support the Spark campaign that is trying to stop this. I would like to know what my Labour Party colleagues have to say on the Minister's attack on lone parents. I request an urgent debate on the CSO income and living conditions report that was launched last week. We need to get this on the radar.

I am dealing with a lone parent who had to get out of her home in the Dublin south area because the landlord put up the rent. The family lost their home in September. They were sent to a hotel in Swords, miles away from their schools. Now they are back in the IMI building in Sandyford. However, they have no facilities for cooking or washing. They are nearer to their schools but they are living in deprivation. The CSO report, which is an outstanding report, should be the number one issue in the country.