Bríd Smith: Survey Says Families Forced to Go Without Essentials

The question asks if you are aware of the national representative survey carried out by Bernardos, but I am quite sure you are. I want to thank Bernardos for this survey and for shining a spotlight on this very, very important issue. The survey had responses from over 315 parents or guardians with children under the age of 18 in their care and found that up to half of the parents of children have had to go to school. Go Without Heat, Electricity, Food, Clothing or other central items over the past six months. Thank you Deputy. I am proposing to take PQs 42 and 47 together. I have seen the report which the Deputy spoke to, which highlights the difficulties currently being faced by children and families. The response to it must be a cross-government response. My own department has recognised child poverty as a significant issue to be given a focus on in the next national policy framework for children and young people, 23 to 28, and this framework is expected to be published in the coming months. While many children and young people are doing well, we recognise that there are acute challenges for specific cohorts who experience this advantage, such as child poverty and child and youth mental health and wellbeing. The framework proposes a series of spotlight programmes focusing on these intractable issues, where some children and young people are experiencing severe difficulty and input is required from across government. On child poverty, my department is working closely with the Department of the Taoiseach, which reaches in the established new child poverty and wellbeing programme office. The role of the Department of the Taoiseach will be to coordinate and focus government action in this area. The initial focus of the office is going to be on six key areas, income support and joblessness, early learning and childcare, reducing the cost of education, youth homelessness, consolidating and integrating family and parental supports and enhancing the participation in culture and arts of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Significant investment has been made by my department in the last two years to support parents with the cost of paying for early learning and childcare, and there are a number of measures planned for the future. We have discussed core funding already and the investment that has brought about. We have also seen, in addition to core funding, the national childcare scheme provides support to help parents meet the cost of childcare, and significant enhancements have been made to that scheme over the last year. My department is also developing a tailored policy response in order to progress the development of a new strand of funding, tackling disadvantage, and this is our equal participation model. I often describe this as DASH for early years, that we can design a model a little bit like AIM, but whereas AIM, the access inclusion model, focuses on children with a disability and supporting them access early years, the idea behind the equal participation model is to better assist children from disadvantaged backgrounds, maybe traveller children, children who are in international protection, children from socio-economic disadvantage, to better support them, engage with early learning and childcare. Minister, perhaps you are not aware of the report. It is entitled, Cost of living, the impact on children, and you have not addressed the cost of living crisis and its impact in the immediate. And to tell me that you have a strategy from 23 to 28, how does that resolve the issues for families, who 57% when asked, cannot afford to allow their children social activities, or school trips and activities, 23%, clothing, 43% had to let their children go without adequate clothing. And there are statements all over this report from people really suffering with the cost of living crisis. I am afraid to do the washing because of the price of the ESB. We had no heating for the past two months. It is warmer outside at times than it is inside. These are immediate issues. They do not require a strategy from 23 to 28. They require immediate intervention. And can you believe that in the Ireland of 2023, the third richest country on the planet, these statistics are allowed to go unanswered, undealt with by your government? And I do not think that your answer on telling me that you have this grand strategy for the next five years, we actually do need a strategy to end child poverty, but you could do that in the here and now. You have got more money in the coffers than you know what to do with, and I am addressing the government when I say that, not just you as Minister. Child poverty needs to be ended, and these are issues that have to be dealt with now. Thank you. Time is up, Minister. Thanks very much, Deputy. And as I said, this is an all-of-government approach, and what I was focusing on was the things that I am doing within my own department. And I make no apologies for having a long-term strategy in terms of how to tackle these issues. The work that we are doing now in terms of the NCS, in terms of core funding, in terms of expanding AIM, all of those really good programs came about after a little bit of long-term thought. And I am very proud that we are now looking to bring forward a new strand, that being the equal participation model. But I can speak to what is happening across government. I can speak to the actions Minister Foley has taken in terms of reducing the cost of education for children through free school books. I can speak to the very extensive steps that Minister Humphreys has taken in terms of increasing the working family payment, increasing the IQC, bringing in the additional child benefit payments, increasing social welfare payments, and, of course, the energy credits that have been brought in across government to very specifically tackle the immediate cost of living crisis that has been experienced. Well, you still haven't answered the question and you certainly haven't addressed the Bernardo's report. It is about the cost of living increases and their current and immediate impact. And in particular, they look at the past six months compared to the previous year and the impact that that is having on children. And they even quote, it is having an extremely detrimental, substantial negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the children and the families that they support. So the question of the strategy, and you are proud of it and fair play to you and all that jazz, but it doesn't address the report and it doesn't address my question. And it certainly doesn't address the deprivation and the hardship that those families are facing. This could be dealt with immediately. And if your government can boast about what a great job it has done in the economy, how many more billions it has in the coffers compared to what its expectations were, why do you not deal with this issue? It is absolutely crucial. Or are those children and families not worth it? Perhaps they are the ones that don't vote. I think the fact that the government has now created a unit dedicated towards tackling child poverty for the first time ever in the history of the state is a very clear evidence of the fact that government is committed to addressing the needs of these children, of these families, and doing so in a way that is not just once off but is systemic and looks to actually tackle the causes of child poverty at its roots, be it issues to do with income support, be it to do with access to education and early learning, be it to do with family homelessness, which we know is a major predicator of whether a child will experience poverty during that period of time. So the government is very much focused on tackling this issue and it is putting in place the mechanisms that can actually bring forward real and meaningful policy change. Deputy Prime Minister, on 24 January this year you announced a new policy to leave some international protection refugees without accommodation. And this, as could have been predicted, has resulted in hundreds of refugees living on the streets and, as was warned, would happen, making them very vulnerable. And as day follow nights they faced racist attacks from racists and fascists, absolutely unjustified. But I want to know how many refugees have been left without accommodation since this policy was introduced in January and how many you are currently accommodating? Thanks very much. And as the Deputy will be aware, since the start of last year the State has responded to the largest humanitarian crisis it has ever faced. And in spite of the unprecedented pressures for accommodation, over 100,000 people arriving in Ireland in that time have found shelter and safety here. And approximately 85,000 of those provided with accommodation through my department. And of those 21,000 are international protection applicants and 64,000 are Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection. Notwithstanding that effort, we have been in that situation since January of being unable to offer accommodation immediately to all those who have sought it. I don't think, I don't agree with your characterisation that this is a policy decision. It is simply a lack of available accommodation and having to make determinations in terms of a limited supply of accommodation. The State has a legal obligation, it also has a moral obligation to assess the claims of those who seek refuge and to provide accommodation and supports in line with the Recast Reception Conditions Directive. That is a duty I take very seriously and it is a duty I have very clearly acknowledged. We have not met to this group of people. At close of business today, there were 189 people who were awaiting an offer of accommodation. Over 1,063 had previously been accommodated but have since received a retrospective offer of accommodation since their arrival in Ireland. So as I said, the State is dealing with a 600% increase in international protection applications since the start of 2021. This year alone, 5,880 additional beds have been secured to accommodate international protection applicants. My Department will continue to use all available means to procure accommodation so that unaccommodated persons are accommodated as quickly as possible. I want to argue with you that the announcement you made in January was deeply irresponsible and has left hundreds of people at risk. I say that because it was aimed specifically at international protection refugees. And this has been a proxy for a policy operating along racial lines. It was not aimed at the more Ukrainians that are coming in. It was aimed at international protection refugees, the majority of whom are black and brown men. And it has opened up the potential of leaving them to the mercy of organised fascists, of racial discrimination, which we know, and I heard you saying earlier on, has always existed in this society. But it has deepened and thickened. And I think that this has been a disgraceful, deliberate announcement to say international protection refugees, i.e. black and brown men, largely, will be left on the streets and will be not accommodated for. But in line with this... Sorry, it is not appropriate to make that sort of criticism of a colleague. You are alleging something that is profoundly serious. I do not think it is an order in the House under privilege to make that sort of accusation. To make the accusation that the announcement specifically targets international protection refugees? I think it is fair enough to make any political point you want, but I think that goes beyond the making of a political point. I am just stating fact. No, you are not. You are stating an opinion. I am not. I am stating fact. It was targeted at international protection refugees. And it has left them very vulnerable on the streets. And we all know the story of the consequences of that. But my question to you really is, how much more you can do? And nobody has ever, in this House, answered the question, what about Bagot Street Hospital? What about the big empty Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge? That has never been answered. And yet, we have heard people like Mel Reynolds, the renowned artist, who are in the House. I am stating that the policy was targeted at international protection refugees, who are in the main, black and brown men. And it has left them very vulnerable on the streets. And we all know the story of the consequences of that. I believe the point on Bagot Street Hospital has been addressed on many occasions. Bagot Street Hospital is not fit for human habitation right now. A very major and a very important issue. Nobody has ever, in this House, answered the question, what about Bagot Street Hospital? What about the big empty Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge? That has never been answered. And yet, we have heard people like Mel Reynolds, the renowned architect, give absolute detail about how those buildings could be used to house hundreds of people. A stone's throw away from the offices of IPAS. I believe the point on Bagot Street Hospital has been addressed on many occasions. Bagot Street Hospital is not fit for human habitation right now. A very major and a very long-term piece of work has to be done in order to make it fit for habitation. That may well happen. I'd love to see that happen. But it's not going to deliver accommodation in the short term. And my focus has had to have been on the short-term deputy because of the very immediate needs of the people that we need to accommodate, the 189 who aren't accommodated today. And the reason we're in this situation is that we know we have a housing crisis in this country. So we didn't have an available stock of accommodation like other EU member states did. So we have to rely predominantly on the private sector. I don't like being in that position. The government doesn't like being in that position. But that's a reality. And for whatever reason, the private sector and certain sectors have made decisions. We'll take international protection. We'll take beneficiaries of temporary protection. And we didn't have any more international protection accommodation. DEPUTY AG She 아무땅 to get our employees out on the street this evening. Great Nordicçi Thanks, thank you. Thank you.