OVER 236,000 CHILDREN are living in poverty in Ireland according to a new report from the Children’s Rights Alliance.

The Child Poverty Monitor, published today by the children’s watchdog, found that more children in Ireland are living in poverty than the population living in Kilkenny and Waterford combined.

Chief Executive of the Tanya Ward said: “For these children, it can mean going to bed hungry several nights a week, sleeping in coats during the winter because the heating is off or going to school with shoes that are painfully too small.”

Ward told The Journal “What really worries us within that cohort is that you’re talking about 90,000 children who probably have been living like this, in poverty, for a long period of time.”

The monitor annually assesses the “state of play” for children and young people by tracking progress and action by the Government from the previous year and recommends solutions in local communities.

Ward said the affects of children living in poverty can leave major impacts on their wellbeing and leaves them very stressed. 

Ward said “They created a new unit in the Department of the Taoiseach but really what needs to happen is we need to see a national plan.

“We need to see an ambitious, national plan that really introduces a combination of measures that could make an enormous difference to children,” she added.

Ward attributed the number of children in poverty to government policies, adding that poverty “is not inevitable” and the result of “political decisions”.

Schools

Principal of Rutland National School Niamh Murray said the report is “comprehensive” and while it highlights the positives, such as the free books scheme available in schools, it’s recommendations are a “number of things which are really important”.

“One of them is the extension of the homeschool liaison team to other non-DEIS schools, that’s quite important. But also, a doubling of education welfare officers,” Murray added.

There’s a strong correlation between poor school attendance and early school leaving, we need to do more to reduce the amount of really poor school attendance.

Murray said that education welfare officers are attending schools too late which stops them from completing preventative work to make students’ attendance stronger.

While the report found the government has “stepped up” in the area of food poverty, it said there is still a “serious issue” around the quality of food that has been provided in DEIS schools’ meals programme.

The alliance made four recommendations to the Government for Budget 2024 including to properly fund all schools’ meals programmes so that a hot meal is included.

Murray said that the best solution she thinks has made the largest impact is the multi-disciplinary teams in DEIS schools.

Rutland National School on Sean Macdermott Street in Dublin hosted the announcement of the report’s findings today.

The principal said the resources in DEIS schools like theirs, with multi-disciplinary teams, nurture rooms and extensive wellbeing resources must be standardised and must be extended on a “phased basis”.

“A number of principals in West Tallaght had suggested the establishment of a ‘DEIS+’ status for schools that have very intense needs and I think that’s a really valuable call,” Murray added.

Murray said that some DEIS schools that have a number of complex factors at play “need more supports” and that pilot projects, which began in the Dublin school, need to be extended.

“I think the reclassification of a DEIS+ status would be a step towards the in to implement those projects.”

Missed Opportunity

Ward said: “Budget 2023 was a missed opportunity for the Government to deliver increased income payments for the poorest children and young people who are experiencing the most acute levels of deprivation and over the past year, we have seen the child poverty rates rise.”

The alliance said while the income supports in Budget 2023 did provide some support to low-income families – they still didn’t “go far enough” as many did not target those of the population who were impacted by poverty.

The watchdog called for “more targeted and effective solutions” instead of “universal interventions” to be included in the next budget such as, extensions to the fuel allowance for Working Family payment recipients.

Ward added that the recent increase in social welfare payments was “simply not enough” to help families and children living in poverty and the alliance recommended that the government raise Qualified Child Increase by €8.50 for children under 12 and a €12.50 for children over 12 at least.

“Income measures are not enough alone to turn the dial on poverty, but they cannot be ignored in Budget 2024,” Ward said.

“The cost of essentials such as milk and bread have increased by 19.7% and 15.5% respectively.  The introduction of measures like free school books at primary school is a really important measure to help with the cost of living as it helps put money back in families’ pockets.”

Ward added that targeted increases towards the families on the lowest income is “critical”.