asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his Department has initiated any study into the incidence and extent of poverty in Ireland; and, if so, if he will give details of the form this study is taking and when it will be completed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Poverty in Ireland.
87.
No such study is being conducted by my Department at present.
I am sure the Deputy can accept that the Government are already well aware of the categories of persons in want and are fully committed to eliminating poverty. The very significant improvements in social welfare services provided for in this year's budget are an earnest of this.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not consider that the Department might initiate such a study?
The question as to whether the Department could initiate or carry out such a study would be two different things.
Either.
Personally, I do not think the Department is equipped to carry out a comprehensive study in this field.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary not consider, in a matter such as this, a matter which occupied the party for so long before the general election that they issued a manifesto——
The Deputy is making a statement.
——that it is rather foolish of the Department not to carry out a study in depth now and attempt to eliminate it altogether?
If the Deputy was as concerned in his party as we are in our party he would be aware of the very considerable amount of work that has been done in the last three or four years in the field of poverty.
The Parliamentary Secretary said there was no study.
In fact, as a result of the Kilkenny conference, it was estimated that approximately one-fifth of the population are in that particular category, after 16 consecutive years of Fianna Fáil Government.
If the Parliamentary Secretary considers one-fifth of the population are in want how does he explain the attitude of his Department refusing to study this?
We are too busy eliminating it to be doing academic studies.
Could I ask whether the Minister for Social Welfare would be prepared to send in a tape recorder here——
The Deputy does not like to be reminded that Fianna Fáil spent 16 years doing nothing.