“From poverty to potential” is the promise of the child poverty unit located at the centre of Irish political power in the office of the Taoiseach.
These are aspirational and well-intentioned words, yet two-and-a-half years on from the establishment of the unit comes confirmation that one in five of our children live with the reality of poverty – after families meet the most essential housing costs.
The latest Poverty Income Inequality and Living Standards Report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland shows that the numbers of people struggling remain equivalent to the levels seen during the peak of the economic crash almost two decades ago.
The research confirms what voluntary, community and charitable working on the ground in communities are seeing and experiencing every day. Tens of thousands of families are now facing the stark choice of food, clothing or paying fuel bills daily.
The debate: Does every apartment really need a balcony?
Eir refuses to refund 91-year-old for a service her family says was cancelled a decade ago
Robert Sheehan: ‘Living in Ireland helps with everything. Everyone feels like they’ve known you forever’
What the presidential election needs is a candidate I wouldn’t vote for: Maria Steen
The ESRI report, which is now in its fifth year and uses data from the Central Statistics Office’s Survey on Income and Living Conditions, tracks that more of our children and their parents cannot afford the very basics. The experts at the institute are not alone in highlighting this: earlier this summer the Children’s Rights Alliance published its pioneering child poverty monitor. It tells us that the numbers in poverty increased by more than 40 per cent.
[ One in five children lives in poverty when housing costs factored in, ESRI findsOpens in new window ]
Not only are we as a society failing families now, but our lack of action is allowing deprivation to jump from one generation to the next.
As was the case last year, these findings reflect the continuing cost of living crisis, with confirmation that rising prices are cutting a lot deeper in homes where keeping pace with costs was already a challenge.
In lower income homes, light, heat and groceries make up a larger share of total expenditure. It is estimated that for people living in these circumstances the actual rate of inflation, or the true cost of living, is 7 per cent higher than the headline rate.
In addition to the immediate impact, the researchers also found that intergenerational deprivation, or a cycle of poverty, is leaving people trapped not just through childhood but into later life.
Analysis of the link between childhood poverty and adult outcomes shows those aged 25 to 59 who grew up in poverty are 8 percentage points more likely to be in bad health and 15 percentage points more likely to be deprived, compared to those who grew up in good or very good conditions.
There are also additional indirect effects of childhood poverty through lower educational attainment and lower employment.
It is striking that, despite our national wealth on paper, we are in real danger of being the first generation to hand over a poorer society to our children.
There is a certain inevitability to the political response which follows such publications. There is the predictable outrage from the opposition and promises from Government.
The evidence from both the ESRI and the Children’s Rights Alliance and its member organisations has been useful in delivering some positive changes, and it is only fair to acknowledge the actions that have been taken. Hot school meals for every child; pilot projects on holiday hunger as well as increases in universal child benefits are positive steps forward. They do provide important supports.
But they are not enough to prevent the stubbornly high poverty rates.
[ Public supports more targeted measures to tackle child poverty, research findsOpens in new window ]
The researchers at the institute have used this series of reports to focus in on the need for systemic change. They do so once again in the 2025 findings, in which they put forward the case for a second, targeted tier of child benefits. This would mean more support for those who need it most. Recent ESRI estimates suggest such a move would reduce the “at risk of poverty” rate by 4.6 percentage points (lifting 55,000 children out of income poverty) and consistent poverty by 2.1 percentage points (lifting 25,000 children out of consistent poverty) at an annual cost of approximately €772 million.
This is a proposal that has gained traction. It is supported by leading child advocates and even gets a nod as an option for consideration in the current Programme for Government.
One internationally recognised advocate, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, used a May 2024 visit to Dublin to endorse such an approach at a specially convened government summit on the issue. Writing in these pages at the time, he said, “we know from evidence that the first 48 months of a child’s life is more important for their development than the next 48 years”.
The Government is about to hold another summit on child poverty on Thursday, with advocates, researchers, experts and policymakers invited to gather in advance of Budget 2026.
This will be a gathering which offers an opportunity to examine the targeted approach, not only recommended by independent experts, but endorsed by Brown at the same event last year and reflected in the current Programme for Government.
The evidence is clear. It endorses the on-the-ground experience of those working in communities at the very frontline of this crisis. And it also offers a way forward.
Unless we open our collective minds and accept the need for systemic change and a new approach, we run the risk of child poverty being our shameful legacy.
Denise Charlton is chief executive of Community Foundation Ireland, a philanthropic hub working with 5,000 voluntary, community and charitable partners.
