THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY Barnardos says that demand for its support and services is higher than ever before as families and children find that services previously available to them are closing due to lack of funding and cutbacks.

Nearly 92,000 childhoods in Ireland are now afflicted by consistent poverty which can be defined by factors such as not having the appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather conditions to not having a hot meal everyday.

Demand for Barnardos services is higher than ever before with staff across the country reporting substantial increases in the volume of families and children calling to their doors looking for help.

The number of children living in such consistent poverty increased by 26,684 between 2008 and 2009 with Barnardos today saying that it anticipates that there will be another big increase in this number when figures for 2010 are released.

Barnardos has today released a new ad entitled ‘Conor’s Story’ where some of the charity’s project workers from some of its 42 project centres around the country describe how they have helped the young boy and his family:

The charity is looking for more help and donations to continue the work it does with almost 6,00 children and families in Ireland citing the growing number of people who are being affected by the economic downturn.

Through anecdotal evidence Barnardos says it is seeing a big increase in families’ reliance on moneylenders just to get through the month, more children going hungry, more children waiting longer for crucial treatment for illnesses that demand early intervention and more children leaving school early without any qualifications