Budget policy would have to change to stop the "alarming" growth of inequality, the Dβil was told. "What we are doing with our wealth is different from what other European countries have done," said Ms Frances Fitzgerald, Fine Gael's family affairs spokeswoman.
Government resources were used in an unequal manner and "if the Minister is serious about supporting families, the most marginalised and the poorest must get the financial support of Government if they are to overcome disadvantage".
She was speaking as the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, introduced legislation that aims to "support families, promote continuity and stability in family life and prevent marital breakdown".
The Family Support Agency Bill establishes the Family Mediation Service on a statutory basis, creating an agency to co-ordinate family support services.
The service is free and confidential and assists separating couples to reach agreement on all issues. The number of couples assisted by the service rose from 484 in 1997 to 1,225 last year.
The agency will be accountable for investment this year of £12 million in family services and programmes. Mr Ahern said it would be a resource for voluntary and community groups working with families.
It would provide a balance between Government resources allocated to dealing with the legal consequences of marital breakdown and the resources allocated to preventive and social supports for families, Mr Ahern said.
The legislation was designed to provide the "comprehensive and coherent response that families today need", and to provide a real "families first" approach.
Ms Fitzgerald said it was critical "how these services are delivered to families". Government resources had been used in an unequal manner and the needy and marginalised "have not been served well by the budgets of this Government".
There were "759,000 people living below the poverty line, 322,000 of whom are children. This puts enormous pressure on families who face problematic child-welfare issues, including difficulties about staying in the education system and accessing health care."
She criticised the lack of consultation with resource centres and mediation centres about the agency, a criticism echoed by Labour's social, community and family affairs spokesman, Mr Tommy Broughan.
Existing family mediation and specialist support centres were concerned at the lack of consultation and their future role with the new agency. It as "fundamentally undemocratic" that the Minister did not examine issues such as giving existing centres the choice of whether to join the agency.
Nonetheless he welcomed the general thrust of the Bill but said that fundamentally issues such as paid parental leave had to be addressed. Mr Broughan said many fathers believed they had not been given equal parental rights through the courts. They wanted to fulfil their responsibilities to their children and should be allowed to do so, through such initiatives as paid parental leave.
