FERGUS FINLAY: I can’t see anything fair about driving more children into poverty

THERE are things about every budget that we all have to grin and bear.

But I’m afraid I have to say that at first glance there are aspects of betrayal in this budget.

Much has been made of the need to be fair. I can’t see anything fair about driving more children into poverty. In a week or so the Central Statistics Office will publish a report that outlines the number of children in Ireland who live in consistent poverty. That’s a phrase with a very particular meaning. There are likely to be children who are hungrier, colder, more subject to colds and ’flu and conditions like asthma because of their housing conditions.