Health debate and child poverty
Senator Healy Eames seeks clarification on debate timings, links water-charge protests to recession-driven hardship, and highlights UNICEF findings on child poverty and educational disadvantage.
I thank the Leader for making time available for this afternoon's debate with the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, and for that in respect of Irish Water which is due to take place tomorrow. Will he confirm the amount of time that will be allocated in respect of each of these important debates? The debate relating to Irish Water is particularly relevant. I attended the protest in Galway city at the weekend and listened to what some of the people there had to say.
Comment on this
We will have a debate tomorrow on this. It is about water, but it is about more than this. It is about the effect of the recession on the people. They are saying enough is enough and this is the tipping point.
I would be grateful for silence from my fellow Senators.
Comment on this
If we needed proof of this, I was struck by the report issued last week by UNICEF on the effect of the recession on children, which showed that 170,000 Irish children, our citizens, live in poverty. One must question the Government's priorities in this case.
I take my hat off to Fr. Tony O'Riordan in Moyross who put out a plea to Catholic churches throughout the country to sell any unused gold or chalices they have to fund a teacher in his school. Moyross is one of the most severely disadvantaged places in Ireland. I have supervised teaching practice in the area. I take my hat off to him because he is showing real leadership. This man knows the value of education and has his priorities right. I believe that around the corner is the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. None of this hangs together, but what it does state is that the Government is not listening and does not have its priorities right. I am very disappointed with this because I backed the Government.
Will the Leader bear in mind what I am asking, that we have adequate time for the debate tomorrow on water, because it is about the recession and its impact on the people? Will the Leader also ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, why she cannot provide the extra teacher for the school in a severely disadvantaged area in Moyross, County Limerick, which has more than 30 children in junior infants? It is not good education.