Sir, – September has seen the publication of multiple reports on child poverty from large organisations funded or part-funded by the State. All highlight the growing number of children living in poverty and the impact this has on their young lives.
The recent report from the Economic and Social Research Institute revealed that nearly 200,000 children in Ireland live in households below the poverty line, an increase of almost 30,000 in a single year.
The Department of Housing reported that in August there were 5,830 children living in homelessness, an increase of 9 per cent on last year in the country’s number of people without a home.
And last week, Barnardos revealed a record backlog with more than 3,000 children and families on its waiting lists – a 31 per cent increase from the previous year – despite a move to close waiting lists in some areas.
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Each annual report or specific piece of research incurs a cost, with individual organisations tabulating numbers and making budget submissions. They share a common message, echoed by several other NGOs in the sector, including the Children’s Rights Alliance and One Family.
Having multiple ways of saying the same thing does not appear to be effective in pushing the Government to do enough to address child poverty. Instead, we have a cottage industry of reports and budget submissions, paid for by charitable donations and the taxpayer.
These are followed by kite-flying by the Cabinet and a frustrating wait to see whether this will be the year that reforms repeatedly called for are finally introduced.
If faced with such an onslaught of information in any other walk of life – including my own – a delay or a failure to swiftly improve a vulnerable person’s circumstances would incur judgment and serious penalties.
The recommendations of the last five years of reports ought to be enough. Any dispute over research methods or reporting cruelly denies lived experience and creates further delay.
It has reached the point where issuing another report with the same plea for action on child poverty risks being a nuisance rather than an instigator of change.
We have plenty of reports. But reports, summits or submissions ought not to be confused with action. It is past time for joined-up action on child poverty. – Yours, etc,
Suzanne Crowe,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6
