The number of children living in housing that is overcrowded, damp, in disrepair and in poor neighbourhoods has more than doubled in the years between 1991 and 2002, research from a leading housing policy expert has found.
Mr Simon Brooke, in his report "Housing Problems and Irish Children", found 50,000 children were living in such housing in 2002 - a more than 100 per cent increase since 1991.
The report was published yesterday by the Children's Research Centre in Trinity College, Dublin, along with a review of existing research on the impact of housing conditions on children, also by Mr Brooke.
As many as 243,600 children in 94,000 households are at risk of experiencing such detrimental living conditions. "There is established association between these issues and children's well-being," writes Mr Brooke.
His research draws on several data sources, including the Census, the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), the Living in Ireland Survey and Dublin City Council's profile of its own tenants. The QNHS found 13.4 per cent of households experienced at least one of several problems such as overcrowding, inadequate heating and rot.
The primary conclusion from his research, according to Mr Brooke, is that children of lone parents are far more likely to experience nearly all of the housing problems cited.
One third of all lone-parent families live in local authority housing compared with just seven per cent of couples with children. Local authority tenants were "far more likely" to have inadequate bedroom capacity, to experience damp, disrepair and rot problems and experience neighbourhood problems.
The impact of these issues on children's welfare was manifest in their increased risk of psychological, respiratory, general health and behavioural problems, all of which impacted on their education, health and sense of well-being.
Housing report: key recommendations
that local authorities establish a dedicated fund for the regular maintenance of their dwellings.
that current minimum standards for the private rented sector be raised and that local authorities' enforcement of standards be improved "significantly".
that the National Children's Strategy be reviewed to include housing as a "basic need".
