Next month’s budget must include targeted measures to tackle deeply concerning child poverty levels, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly.
Deputy Farrelly, who is the party’s spokesperson on children, said:
“New research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows that more than 225,000 children are now subject to income poverty, when housing costs are factored. It is particularly disturbing that these rates almost mirror the most difficult years of the global economic crash.
“The single largest outgoing for any household is the cost of accommodation, so it is hardly surprising that the housing crisis is feeding into rising poverty levels.
“In a country as wealthy as ours, it is shameful that parents are having to choose between food, clothing, lighting and heat due to cost of living pressures.
“Child poverty leads to diminished educational and social opportunities, compounded in later life by poorer employment prospects and health outcomes.
“But child poverty is not inevitable. Ill-judged policymaking by successive governments is what has allowed structural inequality, poverty and deprivation to exist.
“If the government is serious about its commitment to end child poverty by 2030, it must include targeted measures in next month’s budget to support vulnerable families struggling to make ends meet.”
September 9, 2025