Friday 17 December 2021
Children’s Rights Alliance Statement on SILC Poverty Statistics
Responding to the SILC poverty statistics released today, Children’s Rights Alliance Chief Executive Tanya Ward says:
“Today’s figures once again confirm what is staring us all in the face – that a great number of children and families in Ireland live through the nightmare of poverty. It is disappointing to see that, despite different initiatives to combat poverty, children and young people continue to be the ones most at risk of poverty.
“We’re often asked to imagine what it must be like for a child to live with the uncertainty of poverty – the creeping dread of coming home from school to a cold house, to go to bed hungry, without a square meal, or to walk to school each morning with ill-fitting shoes and no winter coat.
“But this is not fiction. It’s the reality this Christmas for almost 100,000 children and young people - with approximately 200,000 at risk of poverty. Those children, young people and their families, who already lived in dreadful conditions, have seen their circumstances further exacerbated by the pandemic.
“For children and young people living in one parent families, many live hand-to-mouth. More than one in five experience consistent poverty, almost one in three are at risk of poverty, while almost half of theses families go without the basics and face deprivation every day.
“No child should have to live in poverty or with the fear of it hanging over their heads. It’s time for the Government to take meaningful action and build a team of dedicated people with the expertise and experience to make the difference and slash these child poverty figures. If we want to offer each child in Ireland the opportunity to thrive, rather than survive, then every department needs to play its part and work with colleagues across government to unlock these children and young people from a continuous cycle of poverty.
“A key opportunity to address systemic child poverty lies with the EU Child Guarantee, which means the Government has to produce an action plan to tackle child poverty. It includes the potential to leverage EU funding for ‘children in need’ so they may access key public services in Ireland including healthcare, housing and education. Ireland must see this as an opportunity to become leaders across Europe to tackle child poverty.”
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For more information or interview bids, contact:
Carys Mair Thomas, Children’s Rights Alliance
carys@childrensrights.ie Tel: +353 1 8605574 (24/7 availability, diverted to mobile)
Notes to editor:
• Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance is available for interview.
• Please NOTE the Central Statistics Office has stated that the data published today is a break in time series which is not comparable to previous years’ statistics.
• You can access the full data set here: Poverty and Deprivation - CSO - Central Statistics Office
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About the Children’s Rights Alliance
Founded in 1995, the Children’s Rights Alliance unites over 120 members working together to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child. Further information is available at: www.childrensrights.ie or on Twitter, @ChildRightsIRL.