THE NUMBER of children at risk of falling into poverty is increasing because an environment of budget cuts has reduced the supports available to the most vulnerable in Irish society, Barnardos said yesterday.
The children’s charity said political decision-making based primarily on creating short-term savings for the exchequer will contribute to stacking up the odds for children who are already facing “incredibly serious challenges”.
Speaking at the launch of the charity’s annual review for 2008, Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said that many children who are born into poverty can successfully grow out of it when given a proper opportunity.
However, he said rolling budget cuts and continuing underinvestment in vital areas such as child protection, educational supports, social welfare and family support services were making this task increasingly difficult.
“When you add challenges such as a training or education need, speech and language delay, family conflict and poor school readiness, the climb out of the poverty cycle becomes a mountain,” Mr Finlay said. “Take away the supports that might give children that crucial lift – homework clubs, sufficient social work support, a family support service, school book grants – and the mountain becomes an Everest.”
Barnardos worked with a total of 5,665 children and families last year, an increase of 6 per cent on 2007. Nearly two-thirds of those who engaged with the charity were children, with 34 per cent of these aged between five and nine and 33 per cent aged 10 to 15.
Barnardos said that 48 per cent of children it dealt with were assessed as having a behavioural or social participation problem, such as poor social skills or aggressive behaviour.
A further 46 per cent were dealing with family conflict or poor peer relationships, while 37 per cent of children were assessed as having education or training needs, such as poor school attendance or academic performance.
Barnardos raised a total of €24.4 million last year, a 13 per cent increase on 2007. Some 63 per cent of this was Government funding, while 37 per cent came from a mixture of donations, charity shop sales and trusts.
Mr Finlay said 2008 had been a good year for Barnardos, but that the end of the Celtic Tiger era was presenting serious difficulties for people living in poverty.
He said calls for a general reduction of up to 5 per cent in social welfare payments was a blunderbuss approach.
