Tag Archives: child poverty

From left: Social Democrats co-leaders Roisin Shortall with Catherine Murphy, Jennifer Whitmore TD and Holly Cairns TD this morning

This morning/afternoon.

Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

The launch of a Social Democrats Private Members’ Bill which will be brought to the Dáil tomorrow to ‘eliminate consistent child poverty’ by 2025.

Jennifer Whitmore TD, the party’s spokesperson for Children, said:

“Our motion calls on the Government to firmly state that they will eliminate consistent child poverty over the next five years and asks that they make that commitment in law to the children of Ireland. With political will, this can be achieved during the lifetime of this Dáil.

“We want the Government to legislate for this ambitious target, and establish a cross-departmental Child Poverty Unit, headed by the Department of the Taoiseach.

“The statistics are stark. One in five children under the age of 18 – that’s over 200,000 – are living in poverty in Ireland today. Of these, more than 90,000 children are living in consistent poverty.

“All previous Government targets to reduce child poverty have failed time and time again. These targets are meaningless unless there is a coherent, comprehensive and properly resourced approach, matched with the ambition to deliver.”

Sam Boal/RollingNews

Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD speaking to the media after being on the Today with Seán O’Rourke show on RTÉ Radio 1 about Budget 2020 on Wednesday

This afternoon.

Via Breakingnews:

Paschal Donohoe freezing welfare, tax bands and credits in this week’s budget have affected people who are already the worst off and will push up child-poverty-at-risk rates, according to leading think tank, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)…

Budget ‘disproportionally impacts welfare recipients’, according to ESRI (Eamon Quinn, Breakingnews)

Soal/Rollingnews