Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I will refer to child benefit amendment shortly. I have listened to the debate today. It is always the case when we talk about the budget, the economy and those who are most vulnerable that we, in these Houses, talk about the situation in a very abstract sense, which is what upsets me most. We talk about meals for children going to school but we never actually talk about why that situation exists or why the meals are needed. We keep going around sticking plasters on things while never acknowledging the gross inequality that exists or asking why it exists. No matter who has been in government, whether it was the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, the poor have remained poor. On the outside, it might look like it has improved slightly every now and again but I can tell the Minister that people from low socioeconomic backgrounds were poor during the boom and they are poor now. It really upsets me when I hear politicians talk about the crumbs being thrown in a budget as if that was to be congratulated, without acknowledging that people are dying because of their social class. For years and years, deprivation and policies have been the weapons which have kept that happening.

I had wanted to talk about other things today but it is upsetting when I hear this. I gave a lecture recently when on a panel at Alexandra College. A young girl from Dublin 6 gave an amazing speech about where she had gone to school and on where her ten best friends are. Her ten best friends are travelling the world and doing all these amazing things in amazing employment. I did a quick audit in my head of my ten best friends. Eight of them are dead and the ninth had died by the Thursday after that speech. That is down to policies in budgets, on where we spend our money and on how we keep the poor poor. We need to move away from talking about the issue as if people are not living this and as if poverty is some sort of identity that is assumed and that we should accept it. I call on everybody - this is not aimed at the Minister but at everyone in the House - to realise there are lives behind that talk. Fire-fighting at the top and saying people are going into education or employment is forgetting that social capital, cultural capital and information capital are in deficit. For people to progress, it is not all about relying on finance.

Now that rant is out of the way, I want to talk briefly about the amendment regarding child benefit.