Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second this motion. I am glad to be here to be able to second this powerful motion tabled by my friend and colleague, Senator Ruane. Poverty is a scourge. It afflicts the lives of a shameful number of people. Living in poverty makes everything so much harder. Deprivation robs people of the peace and security they need to relax, to enjoy themselves and to plan for the future. Every day is a challenge to acquire what is needed to live. It is an endurance test to see how long people can cope.

The Preamble to our Constitution refers to assuring "the dignity and freedom of the individual". Poverty robs people of their dignity and freedom. Poverty is expensive and unhealthy. Poverty creates desperation and hopelessness and, like my colleague said, fuels addiction and criminal offending. Our prisons contain many people trapped in a cycle of addiction, offending and incarceration. The common denominators are poverty, social exclusion and our collective failure to act. It is impossible for people to be free when they are trapped in debt and cannot provide for themselves and the people they care about. It is impossible for people to be free when they are in and out of prison because they are forced to sustain themselves through petty crime.

There is something perverse about the way we brag about our inflated GDP when 11.6% of people live in poverty. There is something bizarre about our claims to be modern and developed when 4% of the population live in consistent poverty. What good is €6 billion in a rainy day fund when children are living in hotel rooms for months on end and older people are being forced to make a choice between heating and eating? The Government's policies are exacerbating poverty. The Government has refused to meet the demands of the housing crisis and to build adequate quantities of social and affordable housing. Instead, it has decided to use the housing assistance payment, HAP, to prop up a deeply dysfunctional private rental market. This is a massive cost to the Exchequer. It provides people with a degree of protection from homelessness but it does not create new State assets. HAP-supported tenants experience great difficulty in finding places to live and remain vulnerable to eviction. If they lose their tenancy, they must start from scratch in a rental market that is deeply inhospitable, especially for people on low incomes.

Social housing is a highly effective way of reducing and preventing poverty. It provides security and certainty, which in turn provides a more conducive environment for employment, education and recovery from mental health and addiction issues. Differential rents insulate people on low incomes from poverty. According to a recent report from Social Justice Ireland, 59% of people receiving rent subsidies, like HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, live below the poverty line once their housing costs are paid. Poverty is built into the system. What is worse is that these subsidised tenancies contribute to the upward pressure on rents, making the whole market more unaffordable for everyone.

The housing crisis is the biggest economic and moral crisis in the State. The answer is ambitious, State-led development of social and affordable housing. This is an emergency and we need to act swiftly and decisively. Ireland's failure to meet its poverty reduction targets should be a source of great shame to all of us. It makes a mockery of our inflated GDP and bumper corporate tax intake. Why does a country flush with wealth fail such a large part of its population so thoroughly? We need to treat this issue with the urgency it warrants.

Almost all the issues we discuss in this Chamber intersect with poverty. Organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Focus Ireland, Social Justice Ireland and many others provide us with vital insights into these issues. However, much more is needed. We desperately need an independent organisation that can provide oversight, conduct research and provide expertise that can be used to poverty-proof Government policy. I hope the Minister of State will support this important and timely motion. Combating poverty will save the State money. It will create a more peaceful and prosperous society and prevent a great deal of unnecessary suffering. It is a moral imperative and we must act.