In the context of children, the programme for Government refers to "an opportunity to change our approach from expensive reactive interventions to proactive supports and long term planning starting from birth". This commitment must be a long way from being realised in light of the report in today's edition of The Irish Times by Kitty Holland about the long queue of families, most of them mothers with babies and toddlers, endeavouring to access the Capuchin Day Centre in order to obtain help with the very basic necessities of life. The photograph that accompanies the article tells 1,000 very depressing stories. Over 600 mothers are registered with the Capuchin Day Centre to get free infant formula and nappies. They travel from the city centre and from homeless centres in Drogheda and Dundalk. Many are accommodated in their parents' homes and so on. These people are not included in the statistics relating to homelessness but they are living in very stressful circumstances nonetheless. In line with comments made earlier, there is an urgent requirement to focus on the needs of homeless children and to reduce the necessity for the Capuchin Day Centre to have to continue to intervene at the level and scale at which it is intervening in order to prevent poverty and destitution. The State should be investing more.

We all acknowledge the enormous charitable work of the Capuchin Day Centre and how it assists people. The Government assists people as well. As stated earlier, there a been a significant increase in the number of people at work and this has helped to reduce poverty in general and also child poverty. We have increased welfare payments. Further increases targeted at people on low incomes and with children are due in March. There will be an increase in the qualified allowance for children, improvements in family income supplement and improvements for lone parents. People who cannot get by, even with their welfare payments, have the option of going to community welfare officers to seek exceptional needs payments or urgent needs payments. Those supports are available directly from the Government but I appreciate that people may, for their own reasons, not wish to avail of those supports and go to voluntary organisations instead, many of which - including food banks - are funded by the Government.

Not the Capuchin Day Centre. The amount it gets is pitiful.