About this Campaign

90,000 children are living in consistent poverty in Ireland. That’s 90,000 children who are going without things that many of us take for granted, like a hot meal every day or the chance to take part in activities like swimming or school trips.

It’s 90,000 children whose families are struggling to make ends meet every week. Children whose families have to make choices that no parent should have to make: like choices between taking a sick child to the doctor and paying a household bill.

Barnardos believes that more and more childhoods are at risk as a result of the recession and harsh budgets that have disproportionately affected families and children living on low incomes.

We believe that there are real choices for Government in Budget 2012. That’s why we started the Barnardos Knows campaign; we want to rally the parents of Ireland (and other supporters) who believe, like we do, that Budget 2012 should:

• Protect social welfare rates to make sure no parent has to choose between food and healthcare
• Protect education services for vulnerable children to make sure all children have the supports they need to learn, develop and grow
• Protect frontline health spending to make sure children get the help they need as soon as they need it

Join us by using your voice to make a stand for children in Budget 2012.

We promise not to share your email address with any third parties.

Please spread the word to your friends and family

We need thousands of signatures to make a compelling case for a child-friendly Budget. Please share this with your friends and family using the social network links above.

We also have petition sheets that you can download and print to gather signatures at your workplace, your community group, your local school or your child's creche. Simply print, get your friends to sign and return to us at our Freepost address.

If you have a blog or website, we have banner ads that you can place on your site to inform your readers about this campaign.