Sir, – As representatives of leading organisations working with and on behalf of children, young people and their families in communities across Ireland, we feel compelled to raise our concerns on the direction of travel of some budget proposals.
As we enter a period of sustained focus on Budget 2025 decisions, we are concerned that the political discourse is focused on supporting families by putting increased resources into the universal child benefit payment. In recent years, double child benefit payments have played an important role in dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. However, they have been very costly and were not sufficient to help the families on the lowest incomes.
If this Government is to uphold its commitment to meaningful progress towards reducing poverty, they need to use Budget 2025 to target resources towards the most effective actions to break the cycle of child poverty.
The latest statistics published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that children have the highest rates of poverty in the country. In the past two years, while there has been a marginal decrease in the “at risk” of poverty rate for children, the number of children experiencing deprivation has increased.
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Research published two weeks ago by the ESRI found that one-in-five children were living in families experiencing deprivation. This means they were unable to afford basic goods and services that are considered essential for a minimum standard of living, such as having a roast dinner once a week, being able to afford a warm coat or keeping their home heated.
We are calling on the Government to prioritise raising the Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC) by a minimum of €6 for children under 12 and, in recognition of the additional costs of older children, €15 for over 12s. The cost of this targeted measure is approximately €136.8 million. In contrast, a double payment of child benefit would cost significantly more at approximately €170 million.
In this Government’s final budget, we do not believe that raising this targeted payment is too much to ask. It is a call for supports that enable these families to keep milk in the fridge, to buy a packet of vests or a raincoat for winter, or a pair of football boots so their teenager can play with their friends.
Failing to deliver effective and sufficient targeted supports, in favour of bonus payments for all, denies these children and young people their basic dignity. We know these children and their families. We do not want to tell them in October that the Government has left them behind again. – Yours, etc,
TANYA WARD, chief executive, Children’s Rights Alliance,
SUZANNE CONNOLLY, chief executive, Barnardos,
CONOR HICKEY, chief executive, Crosscare,
ALEX COONEY, chief executive and co-founder, CyberSafeKids,
TERESA HEENEY, chief executive, Early Childhood Ireland
EMER NOWLAN, chief executive, Educate Together
COLIN HAYBURN, chief executive, Extern Ireland,
SHAUNIE KELLY, child and family manager, FamiliBase,
FERGAL LANDY, chief executive, Family Resource Centre National Forum,
MIKE ALLEN, director of advocacy, research and communications, Focus
Ireland,
CHARLOTTE O’DONOVAN, School Connect Programme, Good Shepherd Cork,
SIAN MULDOWNEY, ICON Coordinator, Inner City Organisations Network (ICON) Ltd
Chairperson, Irish Aftercare Network,
SAOIRSE BRADY, executive director, Irish Penal Reform Trust,
JACK McGINN, uachtarán/president, Irish Second Level Students’ Union (ISSU),
BERNI SMYTH, chief executive, Kerry Diocesan Youth Services (KDYS),
MARNA CARROLL, services director, Laoise Domestic Abuse Service,
Dr. MICHELL WALSH, chief executive, MOVE Ireland,
ROSALEEN MOLLOY, national director, Music Generation,
Michelle Hart, chief executive, National Childhood Network
Mary Cunningham, chief executive, National Youth Council of Ireland
Karen Kiernan, chief executive, One Family
Katie O’Keefe, child and youth services manager, Saoirse Domestic Violence Services
Ian Power, chief executive, SpunOut.ie
Nessan Vaughan, chair of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Social Justice Committee
Aiden Howard, director, The Ark – A Cultural Centre for Children
Michael Gillespie, general secretary, Teachers Union Ireland (TUI)
Damien Peelo, chief executive officer, Treoir
Odhrán Allen, chief executive officer, Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland
Stuart Buchanan, head of children and family services, YMCA Dublin