17 December 2021: Barnardos children’s charity has reacted to CSO Statistics launched today stating it is unacceptable that almost one in ten children (8%) find themselves living in poverty in Ireland today. Despite countless commitments from numerous governments, the charity continue to see far too many children and families experiencing poverty, and as a result being deprived of/struggling to access fundamental life essentials, such as heating and food as well as appropriate housing.
In particular, the CSO statistics released today further demonstrate the vulnerability of one parent families face to poverty, with 22% of one parent families being five times more like living to live consistent poverty compared to families with two parents and one to three children (22% compared to 4%).
Suzanne Connolly, Barnardos CEO said: ‘Across our services, we support thousands of children every year living in poverty. We see first-hand the impact it has on children’s lives and their families around them. We witness the strain that the uncertainty of not knowing from week to week whether you can afford basic necessities places on parents and the direct negative impact it has on their children’s wellbeing. For the families we support poverty can exasperate additional vulnerabilities such as parental mental health issues, parental substance use and increase parental tensions. It can also make confronting those issues all the more difficult.
Childhood lasts a lifetime. Unfortunately, we know that unless action is taken quickly so too can the impact of poverty. Research continues to demonstrate that the longer children live in poverty the worse an impact it has on their future outcomes, particularly health, education and employment.
It is vital we prevent more families entering poverty and make sure that those currently experiencing it are given access to sufficient resources and the right support to exit it as quickly as possible. Over one third of the children we support come from one parent families, a clear plan of action must be made by government to set out how they are going to reduce the disparity for children in these families and those with two parents.
As part of this it is imperative vital that we listen to children’s voices. If we don’t hear what they say about their experiences of poverty, then we can’t find ways to limit the impact of poverty on young lives.’
ENDS
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About Barnardos
Barnardos’ mission is to deliver services and work with families, communities, and our partners to transform the lives of vulnerable children who are affected by adverse childhood experiences. Because childhood lasts a lifetime www.barnardos.ie