2026-06-18

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue. It relates to the national child poverty target. Social Justice Ireland tells us that there are 211,150 children at risk of poverty. Crucially, this figure does not take account of the household spend on accommodation. Two adults working on a low income or the minimum wage do not earn enough to live decently, and neither can they bring their kids up on that money. The MESL report, which was out this morning, tells us that older children, aged 12 and older, in households headed by single adults have the greatest risk of deep income inadequacy if they are dependent on social welfare. This has been true consistently and we have heard it consistently. Single-adult households make up over half of the deep inadequacy cases. Households with one older child of 12 and over account for 94% of those cases. I do not need to tell the Minister of State that kids are expensive; we know this. People who are living in poverty or at risk of poverty are doing their best to try to manage but it is getting impossible for them. We know that the Department of Social Protection and the child poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach have chosen a figure to measure that does not include accommodation costs. When we compare poverty rates among renters without housing supports, before the impact of housing costs on their disposable income is taken into account, 20.5% are at risk of poverty. After housing costs, this becomes 42.6%. That is more than double. Even more worryingly, the 22% of supported renters in poverty jumps to 58% once housing costs are accounted for. The Minister of State and I both know that direct cash transfers in the form of additional child benefit, or whatever way the Government wants to dress it up, have been recommended by the ESRI and others as the most effective way to reduce child poverty. Plain and simple, the Government did not commit enough money to the issue of child poverty to make serious progress towards its target. For years the targets have been set and we know they have been missed. The truth about child poverty exists in those homes where parents are earning but they are paying extortionate childcare rates, for really massive rents or their mortgage has increased, or they are forking out for devices, which are going far ahead of free school books. They are paying energy bills that are among the highest in Europe. I am interested to know what progress is being made to reach the Government's target, but I am also interested to know if it is interested in what the real picture is. The real picture exists when you take into account accommodation costs. If you do not take accommodation costs into account you are missing the picture and therefore will always miss the target. If you are not measuring it properly you will not be able to resolve it. We know from the MESL report that home energy costs have risen by 24.9% in the last year and doubled since 2020. Home heating oil, included in the rural MESL basket, has risen by 72.4% in the last year. That is 186.8% compared to 2020. These are all really serious factors which are impacting. The Children's Rights Alliance tells us that between 24 and 25 there has been an increase in the proportion of individuals living in consistent poverty and experiencing food deprivation. There is an awful lot of talk about a social media ban for children under 16 years of age and I am very concerned that this is acting as a distraction from what is really happening. There are kids who will fall through the cracks because the Government's target is based on figures that are not real figures because they do not take accommodation into account.

To take the last point first before I go into it. Not to take it in isolation, that is a completely separate issue. Reducing child poverty is a key aspect of Government policy. The Government has been working on this and understands it. In September 2025, the Government agreed a new target to reduce the child consistent poverty rate to 3% or less by 2030. While an ambitious target, in setting this rate, the Government was clear that no level of child poverty is acceptable, and this is reflected in the programme for Government. The Department of the Taoiseach's child poverty and well-being programme office continues to lead and drive this important work and break down silos across Government. It has developed a dashboard of indicators to complement this target and to measure child poverty across health, housing, education, early learning and other indicators. As a developed economy, poverty in Ireland is measured on a relative rather than an absolute basis. A risk of poverty is assessed by comparing a person's income to the average income in society. As a relatively high-income country, this means that some households assessed as experiencing poverty in Ireland might not be considered so in other EU countries. Nevertheless, as we are committed to reducing poverty, it is important to retain this approach. Moreover, the consistent poverty measure that we use is unique to Ireland and captures those both at risk of relative poverty and who self-report deprivation. The Government was pleased to see a reduction in the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions, SILC, 2025 rate of child consistent poverty, from 8.5% in 2024 to 7.8% in 2025. This reduction reflects the impact of Government measures to date. The SILC data has a time lag and is based on income from 2024. It therefore does not yet reflect the 2025 budget and the very significant budget 2026 measures. Despite this, we fully recognise that much more needs to be done to reduce child poverty and to deliver on our target by the end of 2030. This requires sustained cross-government investment and commitment over many years. Budget 2026 reflected this commitment, with €320 million allocated to the Department to address child poverty. Significant measures included record increases in the child support payment, higher working family payment thresholds, broader access to the fuel allowance and the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, and an expansion of the hot school meals programme. These build on important programmes already under way that work to reduce child poverty, such as free schoolbooks, free GP visit cards and early childhood supports. While existing targeted income supports, including the child support payment and the working family payment, are effective at tackling child poverty, the Department of Social Protection is exploring reforms to both the working age and the child income supports. A public consultation on this concluded recently. Reflecting the need for a multidimensional approach, work continues right across Government in other key areas such as housing, employment, childcare, education and health to address child poverty. The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2026-2030 outlines many of these actions, with the aim of achieving our target by the end of the decade.

I do not want to seem ungrateful for the Minister of State's reply but he has said things like, as a relatively high-income country, some households assessed as experiencing poverty in Ireland might not be considered so in other EU countries. They are not paying rent or buying groceries in any other EU country, are they? They are doing all that there. If they are in relative poverty, they are in relative poverty. There is no point telling them they would be well-off if they were living in Spain. They do not live there; they live here. As I said, I do not want to seem ungrateful for the reply but I personally would have been embarrassed to read that out. The Minister of State referenced the SILC data and the time lag. That is important because these findings are based on incomes in 2024. We all know what happened in 2024. There was an election and, in the run-in to that election, there were energy supports and all sorts of other things. That is all gone now. When the SILC data catches up, it will reflect the fact that energy supports have been withdrawn and that people in this State are paying some of the highest energy prices in Europe. Moreover, families who are living in poverty are more likely to be on pay-as-you-go meters. I am sure the Minister of State sees this in his constituency office just as I do in mine. Those people are paying even higher rates. It is very expensive to be poor in this State. The SILC data also does not include accommodation costs. That is huge. There are people on ordinary wages who work really hard. If we are making comparisons with other EU countries, in any other EU country, they would be able to expect to go on a holiday or to have a few bob on a Friday night. All of that is gone. They are just paying their rent. Their kids are paying the price for the Government's failure to act on child poverty.

The CSO surveys are hugely important as a basis on which to measure poverty. The investment the Government has made over the past number of budgets, not just those for 2024 and 2025 but also for 2026, and the social protection measures we have put in place, show that not just the Department of Social Protection but all Government Departments are very conscious of child poverty. We are very conscious of the long-term impacts on those children. We are trying to give them the best possible opportunity. You only get one childhood. My Department and Departments right across Government, particularly the Department of Social Protection, are making sure that we are investing as much as possible into capturing the reasons for child poverty. We are investing to make sure we are giving children the best possible opportunities. The CSO documentation and the data we get through the survey on income and living conditions are hugely important in framing Government policy. This is driven from the Department of the Taoiseach to ensure we are doing everything that can be done across Government to tackle child poverty. I assure all Deputies in the House that we understand. We know that, when you meet parents and families who are experiencing child poverty, you can have all the statistics in the world but you need to be able to point to something that can get them from where they are to where they would like to be or to at least give them a roadmap. Everyone wants the best for their families. This is something that every one of us experiences. The Government is working extremely hard to tackle child poverty. We have seen reductions in the indicators over the last number of years.