Between 60,000 and 120,000 children at a time in Ireland are living in poverty, Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan has said.
Mr Brennan said he has sought "urgent" proposals from his department and independent bodies to address the "unacceptable" level of child poverty that continues to exist in the State.
Speaking on the publication of the Combat Poverty agency's strategic plan 2005-2007, Mr Brennan said "decisive and targeted action" in this area was now an urgent priority.
The "inescapable reality", he said, is that poverty now affects between 60,000 and 120,000 children at a time when Ireland continues to enjoy exceptional economic success and levels of unemployment that are "the envy of most nations in the world".
He said: "Surveys and research projects have put the number of children in this country who are in poverty or in danger of descending into poverty, at somewhere between 60,000 and 120,000. I am not interested in arguing about the numbers or squabbling over the various types of methodology used in surveys.
"What I am interested in is confronting this blemish on the Ireland of the 21st century of children having to endure poverty, deprivation and distress."
Mr Brennan said he was now involved in "a series of intensive meetings" to urgently identify practical, targeted proposals to "reach to the very core of the problems that are resulting in child poverty.
"The challenge is to find ways to channel additional resources directly to support these children and their families, and to do so without delay."
The National Economic and Social Council (NESC) has been commissioned to devise a structure for a second tier of supports, in addition to Child Benefit and other entitlements, aimed specifically at reaching those children most in need.
Fine Gael's social affairs spokesman David Stanton said he was glad the Minister was "finally taking the issue seriously after previously stating that poverty levels have not increased".
Mr Stanton said child poverty is a "multi-dimensional problem" and that any successful solution must include tackling measures beyond income support.
"An attempt to address income support without dealing with other issues will have little effect on child poverty levels," he said.
"While I welcome Ministers Brennan's pronouncement on this most important issue, it is long overdue. As recently as last month the Minister stated in the Dáil that 'there is certainly no reason to believe that there has been a worsening in poverty levels in recent years'.
"It is about time that he has taken a full look at the statistics and decided to act. However, any action must tackle educational disadvantage, children's health and housing issues."
The Green Party also called on the Government to take a "holistic" approach to child poverty and to address services and social infrastructure as well as income issues.
Green Party social affairs spokesman Dan Boyle it was positive to hear that the Minister is now 'anything but complacent' about the current situation given that an EU survey showed that almost a quarter of the population are at risk of consistent poverty.
"According to a recent Central Statistics Office report, over 15 per cent of young people live in consistent poverty; Barnardos recently reported that there are 66,000 children living in consistent poverty in Ireland; and according to Unicef figures, only four out of twenty-four rich industrialised nations examined (including the USA and Mexico) have higher rates of child poverty than Ireland," Mr Boyle said.
"I look forward to reading the recommendations of the National Economic and Social Council on second-tier entitlements. The Government's record on second-tier entitlements, and child poverty more generally, has been abysmal."