Finian McGrath
Question:3. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures in place to assist children living in poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3278/16]
View answerThursday, 28 January 2016
Questions (3)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
I wish to ask the Minister which measures he intends to put in place to assist children who are living in poverty. As the Minister knows very well, poverty rates have rocketed. We now have a very serious situation in which 37% of people suffer from deprivation in our society.
We must target those children - there are between 138,000 and 193,000 of them - living in consistent poverty and focus on getting that rate down because we now have the resources and the improving economy to do it.
At the outset, I would like to be associated with the Ceann Comhairle's comments and wish Deputy McLellan all the very best in future. I am sure that whatever she chooses to do, it will be done with her usual attention to detail and commitment.
At my recent appearance at the review of Ireland by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, I confirmed that the Irish Government acknowledges that dealing with child poverty in Ireland has been a major challenge. We have, however, achieved the following key actions in our response to dealing with child poverty. There is an additional €100 million in social protection measures for families with children, and we maintained the social security safety net by honouring an established commitment to maintain the value of child-related welfare payments at 33% to 35% of the minimum adult welfare rate. Our Pathways to Work strategy is helping to ensure that a high proportion of jobs are being taken up by people who were unemployed, including young people. As the Deputy knows, Ireland’s unemployment rate has fallen from 15.1% to 8.8%. In recognition of the higher risks and lifelong consequences of child poverty, the Government set a child-specific poverty target in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures to reduce consistent child poverty by at least two thirds on the 2011 level. This figure currently represents 100,000 children.
Having an ambitious target and actively monitoring this will provide a roadmap from which we can develop and implement a strong multidimensional policy response. The Department of Social Protection has the lead role in co-ordinating Government strategies on child poverty and is the sponsor of outcome four of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, which is economic security and opportunity. It also has lead responsibility for the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion and has identified child poverty as a key cross-sectoral priority to be addressed in 2015 and 2016. There are also a number of areas of focus that support our response to child poverty within my Department. These include €345 million invested annually on early childhood care and education and after-school support programmes that provide care to 100,000 children; the area-based childhood programme of 2013 to 2017, which is co-funded by my Department and Atlantic Philanthropies, amounting to €29.7 million; and €51 million allocated to support the provision of youth services by the voluntary youth sector for 2016. In addition, Tusla delivers a range of services focusing on the welfare, protection and support for children, young people and their families that are key to supporting outcomes that will assist in reducing the impact of child poverty.
Finally, my Department, in collaboration with the Department of Social Protection, will also hold an EU peer review in the next month to explore innovative responses in prevention and early intervention policy and provision to improve outcomes for children, particularly those experiencing child poverty and disadvantage. This event will involve ten member states and the European Commission and a number of key Irish stakeholders. It will contribute to shared learning in ensuring effective responses to address the damaging impact of child poverty.
I acknowledge that the Minister accepted the reality when he appeared at the United Nations meeting on child poverty. We need to focus on poorer children as a sector of society that is consistently living with severe disadvantage. Digging deeper, we can see the figures are not huge and we should be able to have a good crack at ending the problem. There are 138,000 children living in poverty, and the rate of consistent poverty has increased from 6.8% to 11.7%. Those are not my figures but those of the Ombudsman for Children. Even if the outcomes of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures are realised, there will still be approximately 37,000 children living in poverty in 2020. There are 1,054 children who are part of homeless families, which means they live in very bad conditions. We have seen how they live with bed bugs, mice and cockroaches, which is unacceptable in Ireland in 2016.
I will underscore the actions that have been taken. Poverty is seven times more likely in households where people are jobless, and that is why the Government's focus has been on jobs and getting people back to work. There have been 135,000 new jobs created already, and another 50,000 are planned for this year. The Pathways to Work strategy is working and helping to ensure that a high proportion of jobs are taken up - we can show this - by unemployed people, including young people. Since the Government launched its plan in early 2012, we have added 135,000 jobs to the economy. There was a 33% increase in the child care budget, enabling every child in Ireland to avail of free preschool, including children with disabilities. Both I and the Deputies across the floor should be very pleased about that. There is additional funding to extend free GP care to all children aged 11 years and under; those under six already have cover. There is additional funding for speech and language therapy services for children with disabilities, and we have increased the number of resource teachers and special needs assistants in the Irish school system by 29% and 13%, respectively, since 2011, despite the terrible recession we had to endure. There is also improved funding for mental health services for children and young people, as well as a range of additional capital and revenue funding in respect of housing and an effort to specifically address homelessness among families.
The Minister is not listening. I would not get carried away with the connection between poverty and jobs. We know there are many low-paid workers in the State who must use social welfare payments such as family income supplement for support. There are many poor people who have jobs but still need support. The Minister has missed the point with respect to poverty.
Does the Minister find it acceptable that there are children in 2016 living in accommodation with leaking water, mould and faulty electric fittings? One child from every three is deprived of basic necessities, according to a recent Growing Up in Ireland report. As a former Minister for Health, the Minister knows that mortality rates in disadvantaged areas are three times those in more affluent areas. Males in those areas die 18 years sooner, on average, than their counterparts in more affluent areas. How about that for real poverty and hardship? When I woke up this morning and read about the €9 billion that we could have got back from bondholders, I wondered where it all went wrong.
We all know where it went wrong and there is no doubt about that with regard to the last Government. Family homelessness and child poverty are two issues that the Government takes very seriously. There is a regular meeting of Cabinet dealing with social policy and the issue of homelessness is discussed at every one. I go to all of them. The Deputy mentioned the link between jobs and poverty, and I reiterate my previous comments. A household is seven times more likely to experience poverty if the householders are jobless. The Deputy has rightly pointed out that there are additional supports for people on low pay. This Government restored the minimum wage, and the last budget, as adjudicated by independent authorities, was demonstrated to be particularly supportive of families with children.
I am not by any means clapping ourselves on the back at all and there is much work to do to address inequity in our society. We have much to do to address child poverty. I can say the rate has fallen from 11.7% to 11.2%, which may not be statistically significant, but it is travelling in the right direction. It is not travelling fast enough. We are committed to continuing to address this. In 2016, we want a republic that cherishes all its children equally.