The most depressing aspect of the Central Statistics Office survey on income and living conditions is the ever-increasing number of children living in poverty. In 2008 at the start of the economic downturn, some 66,000 children were classified as experiencing consistent poverty. And by 2013 the number had doubled. Children – the most vulnerable group in society and those most needing protection – were on this measurement, it would seem, the greatest casualties of the recession. Few would have predicted that outcome seven years ago. And none should find it acceptable today.
The CSO assesses consistent poverty on two criteria, counting those considered to be at risk of poverty, and those who are already experiencing deprivation. According to the latest measure one in eight children is in this category. Economic recovery should help to reverse that trend and to mitigate the problem somewhat – assuming the rapid rate of growth in 2014 is sustained in the medium term. But as Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos, a children's charity, has commented, there is a worrying double dimension to the CSO finding: its implications both for those children in poverty and also its implications for Ireland.
A rising level of child poverty is unacceptable, both from a social and economic viewpoint. To record a doubling of child poverty levels in such a short period – five years – is a deeply troubling development. Children exposed to poor living conditions may later find their education prematurely ended, and their career opportunities prematurely blighted. They may well become early school leavers who are ill-equipped either for training or employment, dependent on the State, but also alienated from it.
The CSO survey has identified a social problem that has reached a critical point, with the incidence of child poverty doubling through the years of economic recession. A problem on this scale is also a challenge that both the Government and society must address, by endeavouring to assist those who are unable to help themselves.