In a recent speech, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that tackling child poverty was the Government’s “ north star”, with an official target of reducing the rate to 3 per cent by 2030. Any fair reading of the latest report from the Economic and Social Research Institute and Community Foundation Ireland would conclude that there is a long way to go to achieve this goal.
Measuring child poverty is not straightforward and the report contains some criticism that the Government’s approach, which recently reported a small fall in the rate to just below 8 per cent last year, is too narrow. But whatever measure is used, the Coalition is not showing any sustained progress in addressing this vital issue.
The ESRI report finds that the number of children in households below the poverty line, defined as having less than 60 per cent of median household income, rose to 200,000, or 17.4 per cent, in 2024, an annual increase of almost 30,000. Many of the children in these homes would not be counted in the Government’s definition , which also requires there to be evidence of material deprivation, defined as an inability to afford two or more essential goods and services.
While the figures are from a couple of years ago, they do suggest that a reduction in income inequality which had occurred from the period after the financial crash up to 2019 has now stalled or even reversed. The gains of recent years have accrued more significantly to the better off.
The Government has made efforts to direct funds to lower-income families with children, but these have been piecemeal in nature. The ESRI’s case that a second level of child benefit would be the most efficient way to address the issue appears to have been written off, in favour of increasing welfare payments to families with children and improving the Working Family Payment. Welcome as these measures have been, many families continue to struggle.
Helping them – and setting out a pathway for the years ahead – should be a priority of next month’s budget, and not just an afterthought in an attempt to woo the middle classes.