Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Councillor Jennifer Whitmore, has called for a new national target of fully eliminating consistent child poverty over five years.
“Consistent child poverty is something we should be ashamed of as a country. It has a lasting damaging effect on those who experience it and stores up huge problems for our country in the future.”
Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Councillor Jennifer Whitmore, has called for a new national target of fully eliminating consistent child poverty over five years.
Cllr Whitmore made the call following today’s publication of CSO figures which show that the government is failing to reach its own targets to reduce rates of child poverty.
Cllr Whitmore said:
“Today’s figures show a general trend of declining poverty rates. Consistent child poverty is down from 10.9% to 8.8%. However, this still means that about one in 11 children are in a low income household and routinely go without at least some basics.
“While the trend is going in the right direction, it falls very far short of the Government’s own targets. The target set out in the government’s Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures is to reduce consistent child poverty down to about 37,000 children by 2020. There is no hope that this target will be met. Today’s figures show that the level is almost three times the national target with about 105,000 children remaining in consistent poverty.
“Consistent child poverty is something we should be ashamed of as a country. It has a lasting damaging effect on those who experience it and stores up huge problems for our country in the future. The targets we have set for ourselves were not ambitious enough to begin with yet we still can’t manage to reach the 37,000 target.
“There needs to be a new national target of fully eliminating consistent child poverty over five years. It will never be resolved until there is a national plan that is led by An Taoiseach and until the national goal is to get rid of child poverty completely. This would necessitate a focus not just on income measures but also on costs faced by families which impact on children’s daily lives.”
ENDS
17th December 2018