The Irish Times view on child poverty: more needs to be done

The intractability of child poverty has been underlined by the slow pace of progress made under the current Government initiative aimed at addressing the problem.

Established in 2023, the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office in the Department of the Taoiseach set out “to help different parts of government work together to make life better for children, young people, and families across Ireland” according to an admirably accessible Child Friendly Summary in its second progress report published this week.

This mission has translated into a decline in child poverty levels from 8.5 per cent to 7.8 percent between 2024 and 2025. During the same period the Irish economy grew by 8 per cent and Government revenues increased by almost 9 per cent.

It may not seem like much of an improvement when set against this background but poverty in all its forms is relative. The State deems a child to be in poverty if they live in a household with an income of less than 60 per cent of the national median. A second criterion is if the household cannot buy two or more basic items regarded as necessary for an acceptable standard of living.

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Eliminating childhood poverty is thus akin to trying to hit a moving target and the efficacy of the current programme is hard to measure, although it has been endorsed by the OECD.

One criticism which has a certain validity is that it amounts to little more than old wine and new bottles. The various achievements cited in the report – ranging from increases in child benefit to hot school meals – were delivered by various government departments and would arguably have happened anyway as part of a wider drive to combat inequality.

That, however, would ignore the value of having a single body pulling together the disparate efforts across government and measuring their impact on an issue of singular importance. High levels of childhood poverty affect us all directly or indirectly via serious long-term consequences for society and the economy, ranging from lower productivity to greater inequality and social division.