That this Assembly regards as unacceptable the current level of child poverty; and calls on the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister to confirm its commitment to the eradication of child poverty by 2020; and to provide an action plan

I support the motion. As elected representatives, it is our duty to act now to better the lives of children. On many occasions, the House has discussed this issue and questioned the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. Members are discussing the matter once again — it is an issue that will not go away.

As other Members have said, the current level of child poverty in Northern Ireland is unacceptable. It is also unacceptable that that level exceeds the rate of child poverty elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Although we can all agree that that is the case, and we can stand in the House and quote statistics, and say time and again that we find the current situation unacceptable, we have to ask what real action we are taking to actually make a difference to children’s lives in Northern Ireland. The effect of poverty on a child’s life is so widespread that we must ensure that everything possible is done to enable us to aspire to the 2020 target.

The effect of poverty on children is heartbreaking. For many families, the inability to afford a new school uniform has caused difficulties in the past month. The poor diet that is attributed to families in poverty contributes to high levels of obesity in children in Northern Ireland. Poverty affects the formative years of a young life and has been shown to increase the likelihood of exclusion from school and low educational achievement. Poverty affects an individual’s entire life. With that in mind, we must ensure that every child is given the opportunity, regardless of social background, to reach his or her full potential.

More than 124,000 children are being brought up in poverty in Northern Ireland — that is 124,000 too many. It is quite clear that more must be done. First, we must reaffirm our aspiration to eradicate child poverty by 2020. To do that, we must get to grips with the root cause. In Northern Ireland, thousands of people have been lifted out of poverty in the past eight years. However, although that is welcome, a closer look at the statistics shows that those who benefited started just below the poverty line and those who were worst off have remained in the same position.

Child poverty is a manifestation of the more deep-rooted problem that is societal breakdown. Evidence shows that deprivation is often passed down through generations. If a family’s income is benefits based, it is likely that the children of that family will grow up to be long-term recipients of benefits. Educational achievement follows a similar trend: if a parent has been a low achiever, a child is also likely to be a low achiever.

The keys to eradicating child poverty are to break such a cycle, to remove the dependence on the state, and to reinvigorate the family as an entity. Those goals cannot be achieved by simply throwing money at either parents or children; the family unit must be repaired, the grip that crime and drugs have on communities must be broken, and education must be promoted. It is only when those measures, alongside measuring accurately the levels of poverty in specific areas and formulating particular policies to address them, are implemented that we will get to grips with the real root of the problem and have any chance of meeting the 2020 target.

I support the motion and the amendment.