Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach, and well said.

I messaged the Minister the minute I heard that she was retiring to say, "Congratulations". It is a very brave decision for her to make to choose to be with her family. I am empathetic towards her family, who have been without her and who have made sacrifices as a result of her being here and giving such incredible service to her country and to our party. I am very grateful for that. They deserve to have her and for her to enjoy being a grandmother as well, which she has become in recent years. I wish the Minister well with that.

I reflect the views of others. The Minister has been a very strong woman in politics and has been a fantastic role model to those of us who dare to follow in her shadow and in her footsteps. I am very grateful to her for that. She has been party to some incredible decisions. I had the honour of standing beside her the day she launched the hot meals programme in a school in my constituency of Dublin South-Central and in moving that programme from a pilot that had been such a great success under her predecessor and to taking the bold move to amplify it even further. I did a public meeting recently on the whole issue of child poverty and tackling it. In Dublin South-Central, my constituency, there is a higher level of child poverty than in other constituencies. A massive feature in the programme is that no child is discriminated against.Every child will receive their dinner in the same way.

When I was a child in school, some girls in the class were given little cartons of milk. I always wondered what was wrong with me that I did not get the milk. There was nothing wrong with me; it was that I did not need it. In the class, I wondered about that differentiation between children. It is about treating every child the same, as equal and precious, and cherishing them. It also means that we do not assume that just because a child lives in a better-off area that they are without poverty behind those closed doors. Perhaps mothers are sharing their food with their children. We do not know if there is coercive control or other things like that which go on behind closed doors. It has been an incredible move forward in the interests of children, particularly children in poverty. Tackling summer food hunger is also a really important decision. Almost 40,000 children in this country will not go hungry during the holidays. That is really important. Many parents I have sat with know and have experienced hunger. They fear how they will feed their children when they are home on holidays. Many people do not even have to consider that. Families that do, however, now know they will have support.

I sincerely thank the Minister because she was one of the first people I talked to about what we would do and where we would bring legislation on surrogacy. While there was nothing she could do, she was nothing if not full of encouragement and advice. She told me that if I gave her the legislation under equality, she would pay me the money. I thank her for that. She provided great clarity and advice from the beginning.

I am familiar with the Children's Rights Alliance because Tanya Ward was involved in the public meeting with me. Those involved with that organisation congratulated the Minister on so much of this budget, as I did on the day it was introduced, and stated that she had done some excellent negotiation.

If the Minister were to leave a Post-it note on her desk for her successor regarding the things that should be prioritised, there is a situation with lone parents when it comes to the earnings disregard. We could maybe extend that further and do more for lone parents in the future. The Minister has wisely already raised the child support payment and differentiated between the various costs relating to children when they are under the age of 12 and over the age of 12. She increased it from €4 to €8. The next ask is that her successor go to €6 and €15 in order that we will take another step forward. If I were to ask the Minister to leave anything on a note for her successor, it would be that.

I again thank the Minister sincerely. It is incredible that we have had such a record budget. I know that she listened to us in the parliamentary party. She took on board anything we had to say, and I know I felt heard in that respect. I pay tribute to Pauric McPhillips, who has been my go-to person, and I am grateful. There were times when the answer was not in social protection, but he told me what to do and where to go when I was a complete rookie and did not know what I was doing. Pauric was a great source of advice and support. I thank him sincerely through the Minister. I thank all in the Department of Social Protection. It is one of the most responsive Departments when it comes to queries. They assist wherever possible and give direction on what we should be doing next. I am grateful for that. They carry out and live the spirit of service that they stand to do and protect the rights of the most vulnerable in particular. I am grateful and I thank the Minister.