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LAST UPDATE | 5 Sep 2024
THERE HAS BEEN an increase in the number of children unable to access essential items.
The Economic & Social Research Institute has today published its fourth annual report on “Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards in Ireland”.
The ESRI has found that “material deprivation” among those aged under 18 rose from 17.7% in 2022 to 20.1% in 2023.
Material deprivation is an inability to afford two or more items from a list of ten essentials.
These ten essentials include two pairs of strong shoes, a warm waterproof outercoat, new clothes, and the ability to replace worn-out furniture.
It also includes a meal with meat, chicken, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent every second day, as well as a roast joint or its vegetarian equivalent once a week.
Also included is the ability to afford home heating in the past year, the ability to buy presents for friends or family at least once a year, to buy drinks or a meal for friends or family once a month, and a morning, afternoon, or evening of entertainment once a fortnight.
The figures mean that 230,000 children are currently estimated to experience material deprivation, an increase of almost 30,000 since 2022.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said the figures “shows that there’s far too many children in our country still living in very difficult situations and far too many parents struggling to make ends meet”.
Harris added that a further cost-of-living package will be delivered in response to child poverty.
“This is a wealthy, successful country,” said Harris. “We can do better when it comes to this area, and I’m absolutely determined that we will.”
The ESRI report also found that in a household where someone had a disability, material deprivation rates are close to a quarter (24.4%).
And while material deprivation rates decreased for those aged 65 and over, from 11.7% to 9.8%, the ESRI report found that over half of those renting from an approved housing body, local authority or in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment were materially deprived.
Across the population as a whole, rates of material deprivation have increased for the second year in a row, from 13.2% in 2021 to 16.3% last year.
The ESRI further notes that those experiencing material deprivation are less likely to be engaged in civic participation and have significantly fewer social contacts, as well as significantly lower levels of life satisfaction.
Meanwhile, the report found that when housing costs are accounted for, rates of child poverty have increase from 20% in 2020 to 22% in 2023.
Rates of income poverty are particularly high in households where the youngest child is aged 5 or under, which a quarter of such households – totally 250,000 children and parents – below the poverty line on an after housing costs basis.
There has also been a 3% real, inflation-adjusted, decline in the average disposable income of households with children, though this has increased by 3% for those aged 65 and over.
Dr Barra Roantree, a co-author of the report, said the findings suggest additional policy measures, such as a second tier of child benefit targeted at low-income families, may need to be considered if Government commitments to reducing rates of child poverty and material deprivation are to be achieved.
Meanwhile, Dr Helen Russell, a Research Professor at the ESRI and co-author of the report, noted that “poverty has a depressing effect on both social and civic participation”.
She added: “If individuals feel excluded from society and that their voices are not heard this undermines social trust and cohesion.”
Community Foundation Ireland supported the research and has a network of 5,000 voluntary, community and charitable partners.
Its Chief Executive Denise Charlton remarked that the “challenges identified reflects the reality many face on the ground every day, and highlights the importance of policy decisions which promote inclusion and equality for all”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Social Protection, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, said in response to the report that Sinn Féin would fund double child benefit payments this October and December, and increase child benefit by €10 in the party’s upcoming alternative budget.
He said the report is “yet another wake-up call for the government” and added: “For all their big talk and announcements on tackling poverty, the fact is that there are more children in material deprivation now than 12 months previously.”
Elsewhere, the Social Democrats finance spokesperson Róisín Shortall said the report shows that “this government pays lip service to addressing child poverty”.
“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made ending child poverty one of his key priorities. Instead, it has gone up,” said Shortall.
She added: “We are in a period of extraordinary opportunity, with record €8 billion surpluses being recorded each year.
“However, instead of using that money wisely, to the benefit of the most vulnerable in our society, what we have seen instead is waste, mismanagement and ineptitude.”
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We have the other extreme here. Damned if do. Damned if you don’t. The fact is heroin destroys families. They should of thought of that when selling the horrible stuff.
You’ll find that the majority, if not all, these inmates have come from broken homes and deprived communities where they sold drugs to survive. It’s nasty and yes they were part of the cycle that they themselves were trapped in but Obama is acknowledging that solution involve them; much in the same way Mo Molam knew the peace process in NI had to involve inmates in British prisons.
Why is Obama doing this at the end of his term instead of at the beginning? The US prison population stands at over 2million. That’s more than China has incarcerated. It’s almost 2.5 times more than Russia has in prison.
the vast majority of prisons in the US are privately owned, run foe profit and care more about the bottom line than society. barry is an actor..reading off a script and being told what to do, as badly as drugs have messed up parts of society unpunished white collar crime and the burden it has put on society has damaged it a lot more.
in america there is a prison industrial complex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thats the problem.
here there are yobos with 17 previous convictions walking free and committing more serious crimes because the justice system is far to lenient on them. the legal system does not mind, its a big cash cow for them.
Obama is a good actor and that’s all. It is well established fact that since he took office his administration has refused more freedom of information requests than other other administration in US history. And if he gave two shits about ‘non-violent crimes’ then he’d have long arranged for Snowden to come home and would have intervened in the Bradley Manning case as he could have done at any time.
He’s a liar, and has done nothing but further liberalise US laws (which is why most of these guys are in prison in the first place).
Hilary Clinton is far worse than he and if she makes it in it’s bye bye US.
OK idiot. Restored pride to US after years of Bush’s wrath. A true statesman. Agree with you about Hillary though. I hope Sanders wins
Try making a point like an adult and I might respond to you. Other than that. Take a hike.
you just replied to him.
My heart is bleeding purple piss reading the sob stories.
If anything our Judiciary here could learn a thing or two from US Judges about sentencing and the whole US legal system.
Instead of having Solicitors and Barristers they have just one set Lawyers who deal with your case from start to finish. Where there is a dedicated Prosecution Service staffed by full time Prosecution Lawyers and a dedicated Public Defenders Office staffed with full time Defence Lawyers for those that would normally get free legal aid here. And then Private Legal Firms for those that can afford them.
Yes because there is so little crime in the US compared to Ireland.
Funny how you, a prison officer, propose following almost every part of the US save the mass privatization of prisons, wonder why that could be, oh right, self interest.
Wari.
Simply because Privatised Prisons have been shown time and time again to be an utter disaster in terms of security and staff safety. One only has to look at our nearest neighbour to see just how much of a bad idea they are and why the rest of Europe are not following suit. In reality they actually cost the state more than those under Government control in the long term.
I’m all for criminals doing time for their crimes especially violent or sexual crime but some of the sentences for carrying a small amount of drugs are ridiculous. Check out the segment John Oliver did on it, it’s a real eye opener. When I think of the idiot I was as a teenager, I would hate to go to jail for 15 years because of being on idiot.
I didn’t deal drugs! lol
If the sale of illegal substances was legalised and regulated then a lot of these places would see a massive reduction in crime as the people relying on the drug trade to make a living would be forced into tax-paying, gainful employment as they could not compete with a well regulated, safe industry. Also, not only would we gain the tax from the legal sale of drugs, it would be much easier to ensure the quality and safety of such substances as they could be tested in proper labs before being passed onto the public. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the head in the sand approach just doesn’t work. As long as there is a clear demand for drugs, there will always be people willing to risk everything to meet that demand for massive tax free profits.
In fact the Americans have the right idea here. Conspiracy to distribute heroin is no small crime. In my opinion 15 years is entirely appropriate. Crime must be punished harshly or we are all doomed.
They should do more about guns than 1000 year prison terms
How about maybe not dealing heroin. Heroin is a violent drug as is most other drugs. And yes that includes Weed. So just because the initial deal was violent… what we should let them away. The Americans have the right way. Full length senences for federal offences. If we could adopt there legal court room system this country would be a hell of a lot better off.
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*HIV (with a very low cd4 count)
*HEPATITIS B
*HERPES,
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