“No child or family chooses to live in poverty, that choice is made for them. The State has allowed more and more children, decade after decade, to fall into poverty."
This is the view of Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, who was speaking following his party tabling a motion to the Dáil on Wednesday, calling for "consistent child poverty" to be ended within the life of the current Government.
In the Republic of Ireland, one in five children under the age of 18 today are living in poverty, of these 90,000 children are living in what is known as ‘consistent poverty’. Indeed, Cllr Hanley pointed out that a child in Ireland today has the "unfortunate fate of growing up through two recessions".
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The last financial crisis saw households with children experience the largest rise in deprivation. This was worsened with one-adult families or where the household was unemployed. Cllr Hanley argues that deprivation is not a meaningless term. “There are 11 key indicators of deprivation from going without heat to not having a substantial meal in 24 hours," he said, "basic fundamentals every child needs and deserves and yet are denied to thousands in Ireland.”
'A whole of government approach is necessary to deliver joined-up actions for prevention, intervention, and elimination of child poverty'
Cllr Hanley said there is a clear moral argument for eliminating child poverty, and a strong economic argument as well. A recent report, The Hidden Cost of Poverty, from the Society of St Vincent de Paul, revealed that €917.4m is spent in the justice system dealing with the fallout from social and economic disadvantage and exclusion.
The Social Democrats motion to the Government seeks to replace the current subpar targets with "ambitious and achievable" targets and the establishment of a cross-departmental Child Poverty Unit headed by the Department of An Taoiseach.
"More than just increased funding is required to truly eliminate child poverty, and that systemic approach is needed," said Cllr Hanley. “We have amazing youth workers, community workers, and volunteers who have given so much to support children of the State. They need to be resourced and supported, but a whole of government approach is necessary to deliver joined-up actions for prevention, intervention, and elimination of child poverty.”
