93. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection if he is aware of the child poverty monitor report from a group (detail supplied); if he has any plans to address its findings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33106/25]

Sentiment score: -0.16

The child poverty monitor published recently by the Children's Rights Alliance makes for very depressing and alarming reading. Far from being equal to its commitment to tackling child poverty, the Government is overseeing a rise in rates of child poverty. The Minister and I both know that the only way to address this issue in any meaningful way is through in-cash payments that are targeted directly at those who need them. I ask him to outline his plans in this regard.

Sentiment score: -0.27

My worry is that we have had targets previously and they were missed by a mile. A concerted effort is needed. When we talk about deprivation and child poverty, we are talking about households in which members are unable to afford two pairs of properly fitting shoes that are in good condition and suitable for daily activities, or a warm waterproof coat. It is unimaginable that poverty on this scale is happening in the State when it really does not need to be occurring. The statistics show who needs to be targeted, including, in particular, lone-parent households, especially where there are teenagers, who bring additional costs. What we are hearing in the media from the Minister's Government colleagues is really disturbing. The notion that there might be people sitting either at parliamentary party meetings or around the Cabinet table, God help us, who believe the cost-of-living crisis is over is deeply disturbing. The cost-of-living crisis is very much not over and it must be urgently addressed by the Government.

Sentiment score: -0.37

The Minister must acknowledge that the direction of travel is not good, as we see from the SILC data. I respect what he is saying and it may be that the data starts going in a different direction, but I do not believe it will. A lot of the investment he mentioned involved one-off, non-recurring payments to deal with an acute cost-of-living crisis. That crisis has not gone away and is still acute. The Government is saying there will be no one-off measures in the next budget. How will it tackle the rates of child poverty? We do not need to do a poll to know those rates are unacceptable. How will the Minister deal with this issue in the absence of one-off measures? He is relying on such measures to make the argument that when they wash through, there will be a change in the figures. In the absence of those measures, long-term measures will have to be put in place to tackle the acute cost-of-living crisis that is impacting on children very severely. The figures bear that out.

Sentiment score: -0.34