Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I am delighted to have an opportunity to raise this issue. My colleague, Senator Mary White, has been pivotal in raising the matter on the Order of Business day after day in the Chamber. She set up a campaign and championed the issue, and she will contribute to the debate in a few moments.

I have listened to the Government try to defend this during the debate, and to be honest there is no defence. Whatever way it is dressed up, one really cannot defend child poverty. The EU survey of living and living conditions report of 2012 showed that in Ireland 30.5% of the general population suffered two or more forms of deprivation but this rose to 63.2% in the case of lone parents and their children. The consistent poverty rate is higher among lone parents than among the general populous. This fact has been raised by many State organisations and many research organisations in the State.

The changes introduced from a public policy point of view hit the weakest hardest. In 2014, the budget for the back to school allowance for clothes and shoes for primary school children aged between four and 11 was slashed from €150 to €100, which was a 33% cut. This is from a budget of approximately €45 million in the Department of Social Protection. The overall budget in the Department is more than €20 billion. Why are we targeting those people who are most vulnerable, such as young children and lone parents?

This is not something new. Poverty among children is not something that happened overnight on this Government's watch. I do not want to make a political point. In 2008, approximately 6.8% of children were living in consistent poverty but today approximately 11.7% of children live in consistent poverty. This is almost double the 2008 figure and this is under the Government's watch. This represents approximately 140,000 children living in consistent poverty in Ireland.