Almost two-thirds of Irish parents say they or their children have had to go without things such as food, heat, clothes and medical appointments over the last six months as a result of the spike in inflation, according to a survey published by children’s charity Barnardos.
The research highlights the impact that recent cost of living increases have had on parents and children across the country, with those on lower incomes likely to be disproportionately impacted by the price increase.
“In all my years with this service I’ve never seen so many families getting to the point of being cut off from electricity, having to make choices about what they are going to go with or without this week,” one Barnardos staff member told researchers.
The survey said 63 per cent of parents have not been able to afford essentials on a list including electricity, heat, food, medical visits or medicines, clothes, transport or activities and entertainment for themselves or their children at some point since the start of the year.
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Barnardos called on the Government to target any additional measures aimed at combating inflation at low-income families, including the introduction of a hardship fund, to ensure children don’t go without items essential to their social, emotional and physical wellbeing and development.
The charity commissioned Amárach Research to carry out a nationally representative survey with more than 300 parents/guardians with children aged 17 or younger living with them.
The results paint a grim picture of the impact inflation is having with, 70 per cent of parents saying they had found that cost of living increases have negatively affected their children over the past six months, and almost two-thirds now worrying regularly about being able to provide their children.
“These national findings, and our experience on the ground, tell us that more and more families across Ireland are falling into financial distress,” said the charity’s chief executive Suzanne Connolly.
“We are calling on the Government to introduce a hardship fund through the Department of Social Protection where families can go to get support paying essential bills when otherwise their children would go without.”
According to Barnardos project manager Sharon McCormick, a majority of Barnardos staff are now reporting that the price increases “are having a substantially negative affect on the health and wellbeing of the children we are supporting”.
“Staff are witnessing families going without and cutting back, being forced to choose between having the heating and electricity on and having food in their cupboards. Children in those households are at risk of living in cold homes and going hungry, and parents who are living in a state of worry or distress may have less capacity to concentrate on parenting.”
