Labour party leader Ivana Bacik has said it was shocking that in Ireland in 2024 there were such shocking levels of material deprivation among children.
Ms Bacik told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the Labour party will be proposing a Children’s Charter to combat the “shameful levels” of children in homelessness with 4401 children now in homelessness “each one an individual tragedy.
“So what we're calling for is for the government to take on a crucial mission of vindicating the rights of children through better public services. And we're calling on it for a number of things to be done that we would commit to doing if in government to end child homelessness, to guarantee an early years or child care place for every child, and to introduce a new class model for schools in the most disadvantaged bands. Those are our three key priorities.”
Ms Bacik added that she supported calls for a targeted second tier child benefit to which her party had allocated €2.5million in their alternative budget.
“We need to see a targeted set of measures to address this appalling level of child poverty. And that's why we're calling for a Children's Charter to vindicate the rights of children. It's absolutely the crucial mission of any state, any democratic state, to ensure and vindicate the rights of the child, that every child gets a fair start in life.”
The chief executive of Community Foundation Ireland, Denise Charlton, has said that targeted second tier child benefits should be included in Budget 2025 instead of universal one off payments.
Ms Charlton was commenting on a new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) which found that almost 230,000 children, one in five, are going without basic items and activities for a comfortable life in the State.
“It is really very stark that 250,000 children and families with a child under the age of five are living with those stark choices. It's an increase, a 30,000 increase. And so we're obviously not going in the right direction.,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Ms Charlton welcomed the recommendation in the report for increased child benefit, but pointed out that research had shown that to take 40,000 of those children immediately out of those dire circumstances would be to have a second tier child benefit that is targeted.
This was not the first time that a second tier benefit had been suggested, she added. Children’s advocates like the Children’s Rights Alliance and other organisations had made such a recommendation in the past.
“So it's really stark, we have children who are going hungry who don't have clothes to wear. Their parents are worried about keeping their house. But we do have a resolution to it.
“The (ESRI) report really makes clear the devastating consequences of poverty, not just for children, but for people generally. They looked at life satisfaction, they looked at civic participation, and they also looked at social contacts. We know that poverty, disadvantage and inequality go hand in hand. And what the report has done is really amplify that.”
Such levels of poverty were worrying not just families, but also for government and society generally. It could lead to polarisation with whole communities disconnecting and disengaging. “That’s actually a threat to democracy.”
“The report is very clear if we want to respond to real poverty in Ireland, and if we want to ensure that those communities are not becoming disenfranchised, we have to invest and to target benefits for children and then benefits for infrastructure in communities.”
