Deputy Calleary may be suggesting relationship counselling or some kind of mediation for the two individuals concerned. I reiterate our welcome for the publication of the proposed wording of the constitutional amendment on children and congratulate the Government on its publication. It is without doubt a significant and long overdue step towards enshrining children's rights in the Constitution. However, as the Tánaiste will be aware, the reality of life for many children across this State is a world away from the aspirations of the proposed constitutional amendment.

More than 100,000 children in the State live in poverty. This number has increased in recent years because of the policies of Fianna Fáil and of the Tánaiste's own Government. If we are collectively serious about making the best interests of the child a paramount consideration in public policy and the law, we need a strategy to tackle child poverty.

I ask the Tánaiste for a number of commitments. Will he undertake to children-proof the forthcoming budget? Will he promise that the budget will contain no measure to place yet more children in poverty? Will he go one step further and set out the Government's strategy for dealing with children living in poverty?

I thank Deputy McDonald for her welcome for the publication of the constitutional amendment to enshrine the rights of children, for the first time, in our Constitution. I welcome her support and that of her party for the Government's effort in that regard. I hope we will, collectively, succeed in having the referendum passed and having, for the first time, the rights of children enshrined in our Constitution.

The Government gives a high priority to children and to their welfare, safety and rights. That is why, for the first time in the history of the State, we have a Cabinet Minister who is responsible for children and youth affairs and a Department that is responsible for children and youth affairs. Every measure taken by the Government and every proposal, whether budgetary, financial or legislative, is examined by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and by her Department before the measure is discussed at Cabinet. The views and observations of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and her Department are taken into account in any decision we make. That will be the case in budget matters and any other matter that comes before Government.

The Government is determined to turn the economy around. We inherited a situation where our economy was on the floor. We have a job of work to do, in which we are making progress, to turn the economy around and to create employment and the wealth and income to lift people out of poverty. Our efforts at economic recovery are not an end in themselves. They are a means to achieving a more equal and fairer society in which we have fewer poor people.

I am not interested in hearing the Tánaiste's lament about Fianna Fáil.

I did not mention Fianna Fáil.

Deputy McDonald does it herself fairly often.

I wish he would stop it. The Government's last budget was judged, not only by Sinn Féin but also by organisations such as Barnados, as having heaped huge hardship on children. Stealth taxes and cuts to public services and social welfare all had an impact on child citizens. Of course, we had the debacle of DEIS schools and the attempt to take teachers away from some of the most disadvantaged children in the State.

They are robbing young teachers.

I do not have confidence in the robustness of the process for children-proofing the budget.

The constitutional referendum will not be a simple plebiscite of the people and a popular vote. It puts it up to the Government to put its money where its mouth is. If the Government is serious about protecting the rights of children, it will protect the services they rely on and the income of low and middle income families - that is, if the Government is serious. Fine words and whingeing about Fianna Fáil will not put bread in the belly of a single child.

I ask the Tánaiste for a concrete commitment that when the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform make their pronouncements, no measure will be contained therein that will put even one additional child into a position of poverty. Can the Tánaiste give that commitment, and do so without referring backwards to the people in Fianna Fail?

Sinn Féin never listen to the answer and always assume we have said things.

I listened carefully.

The Tánaiste never gives an answer.

I never mentioned Fianna Fáil in my answer to Deputy McDonald.

He must have been referring to the Green Party.

There were no cuts in social welfare rates or cuts in payments to children in last year's budget.

Child poverty is an issue the Government is concerned about. As any parent knows, the most prudent thing one can do for children and their future is to ensure there is good management of financial affairs, now and in the future. That applies equally to a household or to a Government dealing with the national finances.

So, cutbacks are good for children.

That is why the approach of the Government to the national finances, the creation of employment and national recovery is to ensure a sound future for our children and adequate provision for them, adequate education and child support services and adequate income supports. We are committed to that.