One in five children in Ireland are living in poverty once housing costs are striped out. That’s according to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
That’s the equivalent to more than 225,000 children living in poor conditions.
And it puts Ireland way down Europe’s ranking, in 16th place.
“The study lays bare the stagnation in real incomes and the high levels of inflation faced by the lowest income households”, said the Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland, Denise Charlton.
“This will come as no surprise to the voluntary, community and charitable partners of the Community Foundation responding to this crisis on the ground every day. Now we have the evidence which reflects that everyday reality. Our partners will use this research to strengthen their calls for systemic change – including a second targeted tier of child benefit”, she added.
Overall, poverty rates have flat lined in recent years, the ESRI found.
The before-housing-costs poverty rate stood at 12 per cent in 2023, similar to that in 2022 (11 per cent) and 2021 (13 per cent), the ESRI says.
The change in the last few years has been inflation. And that is hitting poorer families harder.
“Inflation has been even higher for lower-income households, a result of light, heat and groceries making up a larger share of their total expenditure”, the ESRI said.
“We estimate that recent inflation has been 7 per cent higher than the headline rate (6.3%) for the lowest-income fifth of households and 5 per cent lower than the headline rate for the highest-income fifth of households.”
That pressure is causing families real hard ship.
“This report suggests there has been no real progress in reducing levels of child poverty when housing costs are accounted for”, said Dr Barra Roantree from the ESRI.
“It is hard to see how the Government can meet its own child poverty reduction targets without major reform”.