Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's claim that Labour decided "to take office and implement an austerity programme that . . . doubled child poverty" is not a factual claim ("It is time for Sinn Fééin to come in from the cold", Opinion & Analysis, January 4th).
It is also a claim that reflects a failure to understand the dynamics of child poverty. In Ireland, child poverty is concentrated in jobless households. This was true before, during, and since the recession. Child poverty is a consequence of structural failings in the Irish economy, not a product of austerity. This is a well-established finding in poverty literature.
Analyses of household incomes over the course of the global financial crisis (see for example those produced by the ESRI) make a consistent finding: the biggest losses were caused by massive increases in unemployment. No pay or social welfare cut came close the catastrophic income loss that results from losing a job.
In the space of two years, 2007–2009, the number of people on the Live Register more than doubled from 175,000 to over 435,000.
Nonetheless, the rate of income poverty among children remained broadly stable over the course of the recession: in 2007, a fifth of children lived in income poverty. CSO analysis finds no statistically significant change in the rate of child income poverty over the recession. By the time the FG-Labour coalition ended in 2016, income poverty among children was marginally lower than when it had taken office.
The poverty metric that did rise during the global financial crisis was enforced deprivation, ie being unable to afford basic necessities. In 2007, 16 per cent of children suffered enforced deprivation. By 2011, when the Fianna Fáil-led government left office (having negotiated the bailout which made austerity a condition of continued financing), deprivation among children had doubled to 32 per cent.
In contrast, when the FG-Labour coalition left office in 2016, the deprivation rate among children had fallen to 25 per cent. By 2018, deprivation among children was lower than it was at the height of the Celtic Tiger.
We cannot tackle child poverty by ignoring the facts. Children deserve better. – Yours, etc,
CAMILLE LOFTUS,
Dublin 7.