Action Needed to Avoid Century of Lost Opportunity

Child Poverty Monitor Published

Research estimates that it will take four to five generations to level the playing field for children and families living in the shadow of poverty and deprivation. Denise Charlton says this highlights the urgent need for ambitious leadership from policymakers to solve the challenge before us.

A Warning

The fifth edition of the Child Poverty Monitor published today (10 June 2026) by the Children’s Rights Alliance warns of the generational roll-overs resulting from child poverty in Ireland. In real terms, this translates to another century of our children trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Introduced five years ago, the Monitor, is a pioneering piece of work. Holding policymakers to account, it represents a mechanism for recording progress, identifying measures which are working and initiating new approaches.

Successfully, it has informed policy changes such as the introduction of hot school meals for every child in primary school, the successful piloting of holiday hunger schemes, the roll out of a Deis Plus Scheme which provide extra supports in areas where they are needed most, as well as universal welfare supports.

Each is important. Each is delivering benefits. Each is providing comfort, support and opportunity to children, families and their communities. Their impact should not be under-estimated or dismissed. Yet, we are nowhere near the levels of security one could reasonably expect from a country which remains, at least on paper, wealthy.

Cold Comfort

There are those in power who may draw some comfort from some of the most recent findings. The Monitor has recorded a decrease in the number of children in consistent poverty, 7.8% as of 2025, down from 8.5% in 2024. However, any comfort is in fact cold when we see that almost 1-in-5 children face enforced deprivation.

When the Monitor examines the number of children living in deprivation and those at risk of poverty, what little cause there may have been for optimism quickly evaporates. Both measures of poverty are well above 200,000 children.

It is shocking that 1-in-5 children are living in homes where impossible decisions are being made each day – between paying for food, clothing or basic household bills. A reality for so many families, it risks becoming normalised. But no matter how consistently this reality is highlighted across research, it should never stop shocking us – or demanding action.

The Child Poverty Monitor reflects findings each September from the Economic and Social Research Institute on Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards – both partners of Community Foundation Ireland and its philanthropic supporters.

Consistently, both highlight the need for greater courage, ambition and leadership in terms of ending the cycle of disadvantage which feeds into the inequality, division and polarisation which afflicts our society.

Systemic Change

A second targeted tier of child benefit has been identified as a potential gamechanger which can achieve positive long-term change which is seismic, possibly even removing 50,000 children from the at-risk category.

Since it was first mooted, politicians of various parties have endorsed the move, as has former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he visited Dublin for a Government organised Child Poverty Summit.

Yet despite the cross-party positive endorsements, implementation has proved elusive. Honouring a commitment in its own Programme for Government, there is currently a Department of Social Protection public consultation underway on the introduction of such a payment.

While this is a positive step, there remains a general lack of urgency that might be expected given the implications for thousands of children and families. They can only hope that the consultation will mark the beginning of a long overdue change of pace and that the evidence and research offered from the researchers and advocates will finally be acted upon.

Opportunities

Changes to welfare, including a new targeted payment, would represent positive change – but they must be complimented with the re-opening of opportunities for the many people currently feeling cut-off and isolated within their communities. This includes opportunities for education, play and recreation, training and work, which can be transformative.

The ESRI research has been clear on the need for extensive investment to build both community infrastructure and a sense of belonging – to open up new accessible opportunities for childcare, education and training for everyone, without exception.

At Community Foundation Ireland, this is something we hear every time we gather and meet some of our 5,000 community, voluntary and charitable partners across the country. In many areas, scarce or non-existent services and supports, isolation and a sense of abandonment are creating disillusionment and dis-engagement in communities.

Today, the Child Poverty Monitor challenges us all. It shows the ambition and urgent action needed or else risk a legacy where generations of children to come must live in a century of missed opportunity.

Denise Charlton is Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland

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