I welcome Professor John Monaghan, national vice president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Mr. John Mark McCafferty, head of social justice and policy; and Ms Audrey Deane, national social policy officer. I ask the delegates to make their presentation on the society's post-budget analysis and other relevant issues, following which members may ask questions. I remind members of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.
Post-Budget Analysis and Other Relevant Issues: Discussion with Society ofSt. Vincent de Paul.
Professor John Monaghan
As always, it is a great pleasure to be here. We welcome the opportunity to set out for the committee the work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, our reaction to the budget and, more importantly, our hopes and fears for the years ahead.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has 9,500 members arranged in approximately 1,300 conferences or branches throughout the 32 counties of Ireland. We make more than 300,000 visits each year and provide in excess of 2 million free volunteering hours. Last year we spent over €43 million in tackling the worst effects of poverty and exclusion. Our activities are spread over 40 areas. Our work with families mainly involves home visitations but we also work with them on debt and personal development issues. We are one of the biggest providers of social housing. We have over 1,000 social housing units and will have 1,100 by the end of the year. We are directly involved in 14 hostels and indirectly involved in a further four. Every night many hundreds of people are off the streets thanks to hostels run by the society. In respect of our work with children, we are involved in providing holidays and running breakfast clubs, youth centres, after-school programmes and other activities. We are also involved in special visits to people in hospitals, including mental hospitals, and prisons. We do important work with the Traveller community, refugees and asylum seekers. We also provide a range of other services. Clearly, a lot of money is spent on our activities.
In terms of the experiences I have as a volunteer when I visit people, it is worth reminding the committee that last year we spent more than €7.3 million on direct financial aid for general bills. That money is spent on everything from helping with the cost of bringing a baby into the world to burying his or her grandparents and anything else members can think of in between, including paying for the houses in which people live. Last year we spent €4.8 million on food, which is hard to credit in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and more than €2.73 million on education, which included everything from pre-school to third level. In respect of fuel, ESB and other energy bills, we spent more than €3.4 million. This is becoming a greater problem as we progress through 2008. We receive a considerable number of donations of furniture and clothing, yet we spent more than €1 million on new items. Every month we spend in excess of €1.8 million to help with basic necessities. The remainder of our money goes on the hostels, housing and resource centres we provide.
It would be churlish not to recognise that for many of the hundreds of thousands we visit annually, life has improved somewhat during the years. Many of the members of this committee, and political parties and civil servants in general, deserve credit for what has happened in this country. We have certainly seen improvements in the lives of the people we visit. We welcome elements of the last budget such as the increases in the amounts of money for the care of older people; pensions, which we have sought for many years; and payments such as the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. That the Government has continued to meet its commitment to overseas development assistance is also important to us. It may seem strange but the reason for it is that we in Ireland are twinned with more than 13 sub-Saharan countries in Africa. We make relatively small but helpful contributions to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in those countries.
We welcome the fact that significant numbers of people on the minimum wage were taken out or remained out of the tax net and proposals on the rural transport initiative are very welcome. While there are issues we want to praise, it would be wrong to give the impression that everyone in Ireland has done well and that there are no problems. What disappoints us most is that the amount of money available for increases under social welfare this year was more than €400 million less than in 2007 and that the amount of money available for increases under child support was almost €50 million lower than in 2007. It makes it difficult to see how we can talk about helping people out of poverty or tackling child poverty when the amount of money available for increases was lower than in previous years.
We are disappointed with the following areas. As in previous years, the basic social welfare rates are still inadequate and people still struggle in poverty. Given what I mentioned a moment ago we can hardly be said to be tackling child poverty. One of the big calls on our education funding is for participation costs, including school books, school trips and fund-raising requests from teachers. The families we deal with have great difficulty with that and there is no support for them. The fact that medical card thresholds have not been increased, which has been promised for so long, is a severe problem for many of the families we visit. The fact that there are fewer medical cards than ten years ago is unbelievable, especially with an increased population. The increases in accident and emergency charges and drug refund scheme charges significantly affect those on low incomes in work — the working poor. The changes in the fuel allowance are derisory. The increase to €18 per week, approximately 60 cent per day, will do little to tackle fuel poverty. The fact that there is no increase in the funeral grant, given that many of the families with which we deal cannot afford insurance, is a major problem. The idea that we treat asylum seekers so scandalously, that the sum of money we pay them is so small that they become very agitated, ill, depressed and frustrated, is scandalous.
One of the issues we need to bring to the committee is that the Ireland we view in 2008 is a two-sided country. We talk about spending more than €125 million on pet food, yet children go to school hungry every day. Despite the downturn in the economy, the newspaper supplements still carry great advertisements for holiday properties while 50,000 children live in households on waiting lists for social housing. The sales of very large cars are still increasing while on the other end of the scale poorer people struggle to pay their ESB bills. It is a very contrasting country.
The problems we see facing poor people in Ireland in 2008 include the rising cost of food. The price of flour has increased by 46% in the past year, bread by 23% and milk by 33%, all commodities that affect lower income families disproportionately. The increase in energy costs is leading very definitely to fuel poverty. We will discuss these in a moment. Education expenses are crippling on low income families. That people on low incomes struggle every day on a financial and emotional precipice leads to debt, poor health and all manner of problems which we see every night of the week.
The effects of indirect taxation, VAT and excise duties are carried disproportionately by poorer people — those on low incomes in work and on social welfare. Every night of the week we experience the tendency to privatise services such as waste collection. This means that where waivers were available previously, they are no longer. In consequence we have to pay a sizeable sum of money to private operations to remove people's waste.
There is an ongoing housing crisis. Social housing targets have never been met. The rents people are asked to pay rise all the time. The standard of accommodation, particularly in the private sector — not in housing built by local authorities, which is generally very good — where many of the 60,000 people on rent supplement live is, in many cases, nothing short of Third World. The rising cost of health care concerns us greatly.
The main concerns we have as we move to 2008 are the cap on rent supplements and the effect it has on the families we help. They either borrow money, come into sweet deals with developers or landlords to meet the extra cost or settle for substandard accommodation, none of which is good for them or their children. Rising food and energy costs will affect poorer families. They pay a disproportionate proportion of their low incomes on that. If the members remember how we measure poverty, it means living on a low income and being deprived of basic necessities. We contend that by the end of this year poverty rates will have increased because the cost of food, energy and heating homes will have risen and people will not be able to afford them.
A commission on taxation will examine the introduction of a carbon tax. We counsel the members to understand this will disproportionately hit poorer families because they tend to burn the dirtiest fuels and will carry the largest cost. They will pay an increased proportion of their income on this heating. The working poor are of particular concern to us because we see people return to us whom we have not helped for ten years. They managed to get jobs when the economy was doing well and are now coming back to us. Social isolation, especially in rural areas, is of particular concern to us.
I mentioned the 300,000 plus visits, the 2 million volunteer hours and the amount we spend. There are still 720,000 people in relative poverty, which means an individual living on less than €219 per week or a family of four on less than €508. In that sub-group 280,000 live in consistent poverty, which means living on those low incomes but in addition suffering deprivation, the most common forms of which are food and fuel poverty. Increasing food and energy prices are likely to increase consistent poverty. The Government's plans to reduce consistent poverty to 4% by 2010 and to eliminate it by 2016 are very unlikely to be achieved unless something dramatic is done. Some 100,000 children live in those kinds of households. To get a visual picture, members could think of Croke Park, fill every seat with a child and put the spare 20,000 on the pitch. That is the number of children who live in those kinds of households, who go to school some days without an appropriate amount to eat and return to cold homes.
On the last page of our presentation we mentioned the cover on our pre-budget submission, which spoke about hitting the right targets. We spoke of trying to achieve justice. Down on the left-hand corner we spoke about the fact that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is not trying to alleviate poverty per se. If one asks us what business we are in, we will say we are in the business of dreams. We are trying to help people overcome their nightmares and convert them into dreams. In a wealthy country such as Ireland in 2008, the very least the poor people we help should have a right to hold onto are those very modest dreams.
May I be associated with the warm welcome extended to our friends from Society of St. Vincent de Paul? I do not know if it is appropriate for us to recall when we were members of different organisations. I do not ask the Chairman to believe this but some people tell me I have a very good sense at meetings and I always credit my time with Society of St. Vincent de Paul when I was in Drimnagh Castle. I was reared in a different kind of Dublin than the one now. I am interested in the presentation because it highlights to the joint committee that there is a different kind of poverty than was experienced when I was growing up.
Funnily, I am not from Tallaght. I was reared in Stephen Street and went to school in Clarendon Street and I was aware of what it was like to be poor in Dublin in those days. My constituency is no different from anywhere else but it has a different kind of poverty. As politicians we see such things and the various Society of St. Vincent de Paul conferences certainly deal with them. Without patronising its delegates, I pay tribute to them. I have often said to its president that I am always impressed to see people from communities outside my constituency who are prepared to come and give of their time, expertise and assistance because that is very important.
If the delegates are interested in taking questions, I would be interested in learning how we can support the work they do. As I said, I come across people who would not have been poor in former times because they were working. Our good friends from CORI have made that point and I am sure the delegates from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will not object to my mentioning that organisation, as they are not in competition with them. Fr. Seán Healy made the point last week that we never thought people who were working, buying their own homes or going back to college would have needed to go to the St. Vincent de Paul but that is what is happening.
In recent times I have been surprised by the kind of people who have asked me how they can access the St. Vincent de Paul. That is the challenge for the Ireland in which we live today. I am interested in how the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is responding to that challenge, though I know it is doing so. I suspect that what I say is also true from its perspective and that its job no longer just involves providing basic help, though that remains a part of the job, especially at certain times. There are new poverty challenges which involve sorting out people's mortgages and dealing with those people who are unable to go back to college because they cannot afford the fees. It is good that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been able to respond to such situations. The circumstances are completely different and the society has had to reinvent itself in that regard.
It is very important that groups appearing before the joint committee, particularly those who appear regularly, find us of some help across party lines. It is not our job simply to offer support, though that is important. I hope that when such groups identify something as necessary we can tick it off our list before they come again. I am sure my Opposition colleagues would agree that we should be able to bring those issues to Government and to the relevant agencies, because it is important we have a system to enable us to carry out action on issues once they have been identified. When those groups come back they can then move onto other business.
I appeal to members to turn off their telephones.
I welcome the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. In my first year as a Deputy I have had considerable contact with the organisation. An accidental house fire a couple of weeks ago burned a family out of its home. We instinctively called St. Vincent de Paul, as well as gardaí and the fire brigade. The society is very diligent in helping families in such circumstances and it is a great resource. We must always remember that its members are volunteers who work at the coalface of poverty, which I come across very often. As Deputy O'Connor said, the society deals with the working poor, which was once only an American phenomenon. People worked simply to survive and sometimes did not even manage that. I see such poverty regularly and it is something we must address. In fairness, the Government has taken a number of steps in that regard.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is involved in another scheme, which is not directly related to poverty but which I would like to highlight. It concerns holidays for the elderly. Beside me in Mornington is the Ozanam holiday home, which I visited two weeks ago for a conference for local members. It has ambitious plans for expansion and recently received planning permission for an extension, following a very generous bequest. The home provides holidays for the elderly from all over the country at approximately €200 per week, although local conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will actually pay for many elderly people to go there. I offered to highlight to colleagues in the Dáil the fact that this service was available. We should encourage more people to go to Mornington and other such facilities around the country as it is a great resource. One couple, aged 92 and 95, who are great supporters of mine in north Meath, went there twice last summer. It is a fantastic facility and an aspect of the work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that is not as well known as its work in helping alleviate acute poverty.
I welcome the delegates from the St. Vincent de Paul. I found their presentation very interesting and apologise on behalf of our party spokesperson, Deputy Enright, and the Labour Party spokesperson, Deputy Shortall, for their absence but they are in the Dáil for Question Time.
It is a busy day.
It is. Deputy Catherine Byrne is also in the House. I am sorry for being late and apologise in advance as I will also have to leave.
The delegates mentioned refugees. I deal with them on a daily basis in Monaghan town, where many of them stay in St. Patrick's College in atrocious conditions. We must all address their plight and it is something I have raised in the House on a few occasions. It is unbelievable that people are kept in such conditions for up to five years before a final decision is made. People defend their treatment on the basis that they are refugees but it is very hard to understand how an Irish person — man or woman — can make such an argument when hundreds of thousands of our people went to other lands and had the opportunity to work. I am very sore about this issue. When one sees children, as I did last week, ordered to return home after being in the country for five years one is prompted to ask what effect it will have on the lives of their families.
The cost of food was mentioned. I admit to coming from a farming background and some farmers in the dairy industry were almost on the St. Vincent de Paul poverty line a few years ago. Now there has been an increase in prices but some of that has been caused by Government policy, whereby the price of feedstuffs is forced up, forcing up the cost of the final product. We must look at that issue very seriously if we want to provide food at a reasonable cost. We import products from other countries which are produced in ways in which we would not allow our farmers to produce food.
I cannot help but mention the question of the waiver on waste collections fees as that is extraordinary. Councils are washing their hands of the issue. Just because they hand over responsibility to a private organisation it does not mean they should not provide some cover as it is causing enormous problems.
The cap on rent supplement is also something we, as a committee, need to look at seriously. With the slowdown in the building of houses more and more people will be forced into rented accommodation. Housing officers in County Monaghan visited the Department two weeks ago and were told that whatever commitments had been made would be kept, but that the chance of any further money for social housing this year was nil. It is extraordinary that when there is a downturn in the economy for the first time in ten years, the people at social housing level are being asked to suffer most. It is completely unacceptable and an issue this committee must discuss across party lines in future.
The cost of oil is a serious issue for the elderly and some are finding it very hard to pay for the minimum deliveries required. My own colleagues in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Monaghan see this as a concern. Carbon charges were correctly mentioned as they will hit the poor more than anybody else.
I will spend some time speaking on the working poor, a very serious section of society. There are people who built their own homes and are paying much higher mortgages than they intended to. They find themselves in dire straits if one person in the household loses a job. MABS is doing a great job but it is finding this section of society to be the one it has to cope with the most. These are not poorer people but those on a middle income who are caught in a clench. They are educated but cannot get support of any kind in paying for items.
I dealt with people in a desperate position recently, where the mother in a household got cancer and eventually died. There was no sympathy whatever and it was only after the mother died that these people were able to get education grants. There were three children in the household.
It is an indictment of our society that there are so many children on the poverty line. I came across a case last night which I mentioned earlier, where a person of 99 years of age has been in a nursing home for nine years but the subvention office, under ministerial order, has refused to pay the increased cost of the nursing home for her. I will raise it in the Dáil later this evening as one of my colleagues will do the same. Considering that we have had ten or 15 years of economic growth, to see children and the elderly being hit is unacceptable. I will work across party lines with my colleagues on this committee to improve this.
I thank the delegates from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for their work down the years. Without them, the position of some families in Monaghan, and to a lesser extent in Cavan, would often be worse. I congratulate the society on its work.
Senator Nicky McFadden will speak next. I appeal to members to keep contributions short.
I welcome Professor John Monaghan and thank him for his very concise words. I will not utter more platitudes and speak of the wonderful work done by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul because I realise how passionate are the people working there about those who are cared for.
We are here to discuss a budget analysis and I am somewhat annoyed at some of the comments I listened to. One of the factors referred to was a decrease of €400 million spent on social welfare than the amount spent in 2007, which is the kernel of the issue. We are expected to care for more and more people on social welfare because of the downturn in the economy and increased redundancies. The witnesses stated they might not have met people for ten years but they are now returning.
It was stated that we are not going to reduce consistent poverty by 2010 and we will not eliminate it by 2016. What can we do? I agree with Deputies O'Connor and Seymour Crawford, as well as my colleague, Deputy Joe Carey, in that there is no need to play politics with the matter. From the perspective of those at the coalface, what can we as parliamentarians do to effect change so as to help those who are hungry and cold?
In my own constituency I am aware of the work done by the Society of the St. Vincent de Paul, as well as the goodwill shown by the broader community towards the society and those who are suffering. The generosity comes from people giving to the society the whole time. It has been acknowledged that there has been increases for the care of the elderly, back to schools provisions, pensions and rural transport. We must make intelligent logistical moves in terms of being practical, moving money around and getting best value. I know the Society of St. Vincent de Paul does this but how can various Departments do the same thing?
In his pre-budget submission — I apologise for being unable to attend the meeting organised by the committee to deal with the pre-budget submission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul — Fr. Seán Healy from CORI spoke about the working poor and refundable tax credits. What is the opinion of the witnesses on this?
I pay tribute to the Society of the St. Vincent de Paul for the work it does in the communities throughout the country, as well as the voluntary effort which goes into helping a person's day and life become better. The society plays a vital role in this.
Since I was elected to the Dáil, it has struck me walking around Dublin that there is an increase in homelessness, particularly with young and able-bodied men and women. It is saddening that every day of the week a person can go out and see people sleeping in doorways with cardboard around them. It is shocking to think that in Ireland in 2008, this is increasing instead of decreasing. I would like to hear the views of the witnesses on the matter.
I am from Clarecastle, just outside Ennis in County Clare, and there is an element of homelessness there. Together with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul we are building a hostel, which is a significant step forward, to deal with homelessness. It is frightening to see this happening in Ireland in 2008.
I take the points made by the witnesses with regard to the budget and the inadequacies in it. Did the Society of the St. Vincent de Paul get any joy in the budget with regard to the pre-budget position? Was any goal achieved or were the witnesses happy about some elements?
Like the others, I welcome the representatives of Society of the St. Vincent de Paul and their point of view, which they are bringing to us as a committee today. It is important we understand the work being done. The greatest part of the organisation is its flexibility in being able to adapt to new scenarios, which is very important. It is significant that the Government has seen how this organisation, by bringing money into the economy through the voluntary system, is important and should be used more. We get better value for money by using this organisation.
The witnesses mentioned a few issues, such as the waiver system. I have long held the view that the waiver system should not rest with the local authorities. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs should be able to assess people who require help in that regard and there should be a shift from the current position. I am here today to suggest solutions rather than criticise. Whether we like it or not, we are in a budgetary position where everybody is looking for money, including the Society of the St. Vincent de Paul.
It would be remiss of me today as a member of the committee not to consider the major problems we are facing on the world stage. We are a small country with huge import bills, which is reflected in the price of commodities. We do not control this, and it is important to bear this in mind. The cost of fuel is increasing the cost of living, be it from the making of a loaf of bread or the power which drives the ESB. There is a cost involved. We must take into account that the society's budget for next year is set in stone this year. Next year I would like to see ideas from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on moving from local government housing to see how facilities can be found. We have moved to a new system that provides 10% or 20% social and affordable housing and this means local governments will not build as many houses in future. There will be either 10% or 20% fewer housing units in this regard and we must examine this situation.
People will turn to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul when furnishing a house and we know the phenomenal good work done by the society. I support what is being done and encourage the Government to increase the society's budget, rather than decrease it because taxpayers receive better value for money through the society.
The Government has supported mortgages through the mortgage allowance, which is easily keeping pace with inflation. The Government views its role in this as important. For the next budget the Society of St. Vincent de Paul should examine the changing nature of housing in Ireland and the waiver system that applies due to the difference between the private and public collection of waste. The Government must examine the social aspect of this and the Department of Social and Family Affairs should pick up a waiver system that may be left over.
Professor John Monaghan
I shall respond and then ask my colleagues to respond to the many points raised. Senator Nicky McFadden asked whether we could suggest things that could bring about improvements and a number of things could help. There is a fuel allowance scheme paid at €18 per week and Deputy Crawford mentioned that people in rural Ireland find it difficult to buy oil with it. The allowance comes to €540 per year and one of our members in Loughrea suggested it could be paid in two equal instalments; €270 in October and €270 later in the year. This would allow people, particularly those in rural areas without access to gas, to buy oil. This is a practical suggestion and cross-party support for it would be useful.
Senator Butler's suggestion regarding the Department of Social and Family Affairs taking over the waiver would be very useful. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs and his officials know who poor people are because they receive social welfare payments, pensions, child income supplements and so on from the Department. It should be easy to identify poor people and we would welcome cross-party support for our suggestion that many of these payments be made automatically as this would be a great help to us and the people we support. Having people re-apply for such payments every year is ludicrous.
A number of people mentioned housing and in our pre-budget submissions for many years we have raised the issue of a cap on rent supplements. This is a significant area this committee could address. If, for example, a community welfare officer feels obliged to keep the cap at €1,000 for a house but a landlord seeks €1,500 and the difference, €500 in this case, is beyond the resources of the person involved, he or she may end up using moneylenders or borrowing from friends and neighbours for support. The cap on rent supplements is causing immense problems and if this committee could help in discussions with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs or the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government it would be greatly appreciated.
I am concerned by the idea of switching from building houses through local authorities to acquiring them through the private sector. In our experience the quality of private sector houses occupied by people on rent supplements is very low. Given increasing energy prices, we must be certain that people are not spending the small amounts of money they have trying to heat poorly insulated homes that allow heat escape through chimneys or walls. We must ensure that high quality homes are available through the rental accommodation scheme or whatever scheme is put in place. Rigorous enforcement of housing standards will be necessary and we would welcome the committee's support on this.
These are the main areas in which I feel the committee could help the society. I will ask my colleague, Mr. John Mark McCafferty, to discuss homelessness and refugees because he has expertise in these areas. I will then ask my colleague, Ms Audrey Deane, national social policy officer, to speak on old people and other areas in which we are involved.
Mr. John Mark McCafferty
I am head of social justice and policy with the society. Committee members asked for ideas and ways to help and I am conscious that there are new members of the committee. The area of direct provision to asylum seekers was raised and we feel that the weekly monetary payments in this regard are derisory. The weekly figure is €19 for an adult and €9.50 for a child and this has been the case since around 1999 or 2000. Given the huge increase in the cost of living in Ireland in the intervening years, what was a very basic income support seven or eight years ago is now incredibly meagre. We see this as a very important issue.
Regarding child income supports, we spoke of the working poor and working poor families and a key solution in this area is the greater targeting of child income supports. Notwithstanding recent reductions in social welfare budgets there has been a huge relative increase in child benefit payments to everyone. There is much to be said for this as it gives everyone ownership of child benefit but if the Government is serious about tackling child poverty it must examine the efficiency of pouring so much money into a universal child benefit system. One of the targeted payments, the qualified child addition, has increased in small amounts and only in recent years. The society advocates a more targeted child income support payment and has raised the possibility of merging the family income supplement with the child dependant additions. This could be where refundable tax credits apply but this need not necessarily be so; there could be a cash payment administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
All parties have committed to ending homelessness and ceasing the use of emergency accommodation outside emergency situations by 2010. This was agreed at the end of 2006 and it is in the programme for Government. We are conscious that there has been no increase in development funding for 2008 for the HSE's homelessness services and this is a huge concern if the target of 2010 is to be reached. Other organisations that form the Make Room Coalition, such as Simon, Focus Ireland and Threshold, agree with us in this regard. An interagency approach to tackling homelessness must be taken at local level. This will put the homeless person at the centre and ensure he or she is supported in long-term, sustainable accommodation, using a variety of social, health and labour market supports. It is a multifaceted approach because people are multifaceted, as are their needs. It requires investment and a vision underpinning our aim to end homelessness by providing access to housing and the possibility of staying there.
The Government must decide which way it wants to go in terms of investment in the private rented sector. This could be either through the very costly rent supplement scheme or through a commitment by the Government, as stated in Towards 2016, to social housing, whether through local authorities or an expanded voluntary and co-operative sector which will provide bricks and mortar and other associated supports for people in need of housing.
Ms Audrey Deane
I will return to the wide and challenging question posed by Senator McFadden about what we can do to ensure we are not all here again this time next year. We understand and respect the fact that we are entering into more straitened times, but for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, education is the key difference that can be made in a child's life to stop the intergenerational blight of poverty which is so corrosive and which is responsible for our shockingly high number of early school leavers, particularly in disadvantaged schools in certain areas. Our members know of the struggles faced by families every day of the week just to keep their children in school. It is not just about putting on the uniform or buying the runners or the books, but the whole gamut of costs. Parents must ask themselves whether they can afford the tin whistle or the swimming lessons. Some items can cost up to €100. These are not ancillary costs, but they are not part of the core curriculum, and they put much pressure on low-income families. I am not talking only about families on social welfare but also the working poor who are juggling all these costs.
We do not believe that the current financial supports to facilitate and motivate families to keep their children in school are sufficient. Through the work of our members and their experience in walking the walk with people they help, we came up with the idea of a cost of school allowance, which we considered and probed thoroughly before we put it to paper. We feel this allowance should replace the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, which is quite a cumbersome scheme. It is administered by community welfare officers, which means that people must queue up and re-apply every year. It is not available to everybody who needs it and there are various strange anomalies with regard to the eligibility thresholds. For example, if one is a single parent one cannot earn as much as a couple if one is to be eligible for the scheme. There are many problems with the scheme.
We think the scheme should be scrapped and replaced with a cost of school allowance which can be accessed by people who are eligible for family income support and which will factor in the total cost of school, which includes books and participation in activities. This will provide an incentive for families to keep their children in school. We have not yet been successful in this regard but we will continue to beat the drum because we feel passionately that education can really make a difference in a child's life. The work of the society around the country, in its quiet and intimate personal journeys with families, has helped children to achieve better lives.
With regard to nutrition, we are part of the Healthy Food for All initiative. The Family Support Agency, represented here by Mr. Pat Bennett, is also a member of this umbrella body of organisations whose aim is to make affordable and nutritious food available to a wider constituency. Deputy Crawford, who has now left the meeting, was very concerned about the rising cost of food, as are we. We feel there are lots of innovative ways to promote affordable and healthy food with the involvement of a variety of agencies and stakeholders. Whether it is the corporate sector, State bodies or agencies such as ourselves, we can work together to get better outcomes for people who need access to food.
We are particularly interested in school meals. We are convinced that there is a huge potential here that is currently untapped. There is quite a confusing array of schemes — there are currently four schemes — which are tackling the issue of healthy, nutritious food for children in schools, including proper meals, but the approach is not yet robust. We have made a few recommendations. It is not just about money but about cross-departmental thinking and working. We will continue to beat the drum on that issue.
The flip side of food poverty is the obesity epidemic which is raging through the country. We genuinely believe that schoolchildren are a captive audience for healthy eating messages and we look to various Departments, including the Department of Social and Family Affairs, to become more creative in how they carve up the money they allocate and how they prioritise the money that goes towards school meals. We also look to the Department of Education and Science to champion the healthy eating guidelines in schools. I will leave it at that for the moment but we would be delighted to take questions from members.
Professor John Monaghan
I wish to finish by making three points as I understand there is another group still to come. To take up one of the points made by Ms Deane, Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe in which even the poorest families are expected to pay for school books. We have a book rental scheme or free book scheme, but in our experience it is inadequate and cumbersome. We believe that with a small additional amount of money over and above what is currently available, free books could be made available to all children in designated disadvantaged areas. We would welcome cross-party support to explore this. We mentioned this in previous pre-budget submissions and it will be there again. We are willing to talk to people on this issue.
Senator Butler mentioned the issue of funding. Of the €43 million we receive in funding, only €1.3 million is direct funding from the Government to spend as we wish. The rest is money that we acquire through donations and bequests. We do receive more than €10 million in additional funding when we build housing and resource centres, but it is effectively money in and out. It is a conduit process — we spend the money and we claim it back. The total direct support from the Government for our efforts is €1.3 million and we raise the rest through voluntary efforts. We are happy to do this. If the Senator, however, feels he could coerce his colleague, the Minister for Finance, to support us further, we would be delighted.
I will return to an issue raised by Deputy O'Connor at the beginning of the meeting which is appropriate now that our colleagues from the Family Support Agency are here. The Deputy spoke about the changing nature of poverty. I am sure the representatives of the Family Support Agency will also mention this. One of the things we see is the changing nature of family units. Whereas 15 or 20 years ago families mostly consisted of two parents and a number of children or a widow and a number of children, that has now changed dramatically. There are many types of household, one of which is single-parent households, as mentioned by Senator McFadden in the Seanad. We have not focused on these families in particular. However, single-parent families are the biggest single constituent of the people assisted by many of our conferences. Such families are predominantly but not exclusively headed by females and are mostly the result of the breakdown of relationships or marriages. This is a sad fact and an indication of the changing nature of Ireland and the changing nature of poverty.
We thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity of addressing them. We would be happy to work with the committee in any way we can to achieve our common aim, which is to eliminate poverty in Ireland.
I thank the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for coming before the committee and engaging in such comprehensive analysis and discussion.