Search the record

dismissed. It does not get factored into those surveys. Free schoolbooks were not. To me, preventing poverty is, first of all, about guaranteeing children access to education, food and good, regular hot meals, and also ensuring that their families have supportive incomes, which we do through the social

forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table. As I listened to the Minister of State's response, I was sitting here thinking "Jesus wept. The Government has now normalised poverty in 2026." It is a sad indication of where this Government

ESRI recently published a report which highlighted the number of children living in households below the poverty line rose to 200,000 in 2024. All the while, this Government boasts about tax surpluses. We are told that the money is being kept aside for a rainy … food on the table. These levels of widening inequality are not inevitable. They are a choice, and they are a choice being made by the Government. The Government reported a budget surplus of €23.2 billion in 2024. When we have 200,000 children living below the poverty line

barrel by talking about definitions of poverty when we know so many children are suffering. If this Government is serious about tackling child poverty and supporting low-income households, then budget 2027 should be a children's budget. We need fundamental reforms that support households with the rising … lower incomes. That cannot be done alone because many working families are also struggling. They are struggling to pay bills and to put food on the table. These are the people who are keeping this country going and they are the people that we and the Government need

cent a litre, and the NORA levy by another 2 cent per litre. On top on that, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine implemented a comprehensive €100 million fuel income support scheme to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and the fishing sector facing unprecedented increases in fuel … middle-income families. The facts are that this Government has acted time and again to provide for households at risk of fuel poverty, and to ease the burden on all households impacted by the crisis. The upcoming budget will build on the work of budget 2026 to protect