One in 12 children lived in the most severe form of poverty in 2025, with 95,170 children experiencing consistent poverty, according to the Children’s Rights Alliance.
The 2026 Child Poverty Monitor — the fifth edition of the alliance’s annual report tracking Government progress on reducing child poverty — found that while rates marginally fluctuated over the past five years, trends have largely remained constant, with children continuing to have the highest poverty rates of any age group, reports RTE.
The number of children in consistent poverty fell slightly from 8.5% in 2024 to 7.8% in 2025, though this remains the highest rate of any age cohort, and the Children’s Rights Alliance is calling for Budget 2027 to be a dedicated “children’s budget” designed to break the cycle of poverty.
Chief Executive Tanya Ward said the figures show “over 95,000 children in Ireland are growing up in consistent poverty — 95,000 children and families who cannot heat their homes when temperatures plummet or afford a coat or a new pair of school shoes when they get too tight,” reports RTE.
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“Children who know what it means to have no after-school activities or birthday parties. Families who regularly go without themselves just to keep food on the table for their children,” she said.
“We also have to ask ourselves what is that cost for children? It can cost them their health, their friends, their education, their employment prospects. We have more children now at risk of poverty, we cannot be investing less. The focus must be only investing more to ensure each department can meet the current need and be able to go further for those who need that additional support,” Ms Ward added, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said: “These are families that don’t go out for a meal. These are children that don’t go to birthday parties because they can’t afford the present.
“These are children that arrive in school in September and don’t have a warm coat or a new pair of shoes, something that most children can expect to have,” reports RTE.
Ms Ward called on the Government to increase children’s income payments and the fuel allowance to “help families get through the current crisis.”
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