Máire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister coming to the Seanad and taking the time to listen to the concerns and observations we have, as well as the positivity we have for the Minister's brief and for the children of Ireland. I would like to provide a context for the Ireland children are growing up in today. In the days before the announcement of the budget, I attended a briefing by the economic think tank Tasc. Given we have the Taoiseach, Ministers, Deputies and Senators in line for a massive pay increase, to hear that Ireland is a more unequal society than ever is shameful. These pay rises across the public sector only serve to increase economic inequality even more, and I welcome the Ministers' decision today to forego those increases. While this was due to public pressure, it is to be welcomed.

Some may ask what this has to do with children and youth affairs. Inequality inhibits a child's ability to flourish and creates a much lower level of well-being. I will provide some of the facts that Tasc outlined and which ably demonstrate the consequences of inequality. At nine months of age the household income has no impact on a child's cognitive potential. By the age of three children in higher income families are, on average, performing better than those from lower income households. A 1% increase in household income leads to a 5% percent increase in educational scores. By age nine children from poorer backgrounds are aware of their class image and are more anxious, less happy and behave poorly. This is directly attributed to the impact of multiple economic inequalities, for example, in housing, health, poverty, stress and education. The saddest statistic I have heard recently is that by the age of 13, children's expectations are reduced because they recognise they are unequal. Only 36% of children aged 13 from the bottom income group expect to get a college degree compared to 65% from the highest income group.

The Ireland that our politicians have created today has a child deprivation rate of 36%, double the 2007 rate. Some 58% of lone parents suffer deprivation, up from 35% in 2007. Approximately 29% of our children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, higher than the EU average and double that of Denmark. In this, we are certainly not cherishing our children equally.

There are some welcome measures. I applaud and congratulate the Minister and her staff for getting this initiative off the ground. The single affordable child care initiative is a welcome development and, hopefully, the starting point for all world-class provision for child care for all. There is €37 million in additional funding for Tusla, more teachers, more school meals and automatic medical cards for children in receipt of domiciliary care allowance. While these are all positive measures, they need to be measured against the overall reality that is the structural inequality that exists in this country.

Overall, I believe budget 2017 was an opportunity missed. Like so many budgets that went before, it has far more capacity to create more inequality than it does to reduce it. Inequality exists and gets worse because of political decisions taken by politicians who seem far removed from the day-to-day realities of people living, struggling and working in communities throughout the country. This stems from an ideology of running down public services, reducing pay levels, creating poorly paid jobs and cheerleading for the markets and neoliberalism. A way of addressing inequality is through equality-proofing budgets to investigate the outcomes of the decisions that politicians make. This is committed to in the programme for Government, which states: "We will develop the process of budget and policy proofing as a means of advancing equality, reducing poverty and strengthening economic and social rights". It did not happen in this budget, unfortunately, but I hope it will happen in every budget from here on.

I will conclude with one example and perhaps pose a direct question to the Minister on the area of social worker and social care staff recruitment. What is the plan for these new staff? Will they be employed directly by the HSE or will they be provided for by privatised agency companies, which seem to be everywhere and anywhere and seem to be taking over our public services? Of the €37 million promised to Tusla, how much of this extra funding will be swallowed up by private companies and basically lost? The day the Minister made our citizens a commodity in the social care sector, to be bought and sold to the smallest bidder, was a sad day for the Proclamation that we try to live up to. Until there is a day when the ideology of many who serve in both Houses changes, we will not see inequality reduced and we will continue to see it grow. Sinn Féin and I have a different vision and we will see it through. Nonetheless, on the whole, I congratulate the Minister yet again on this exciting initiative and wish her well in advancing and equality-proofing it.