Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 April 2026
90. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the current number of children living in poverty; the breakdown of these figures by county; and the steps he will take to help the most vulnerable children. [31307/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraConsistent Poverty levels are measured by the Central Statistics Office through the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). In March of this year the CSO published SILC 2025, and associated poverty levels. SILC 2025 shows a reduction in the national child consistent poverty rate, from 8.5% in 2024 to 7.8% in 2025, equivalent to an 8.5% reduction year-on-year.
However as the SILC 2025 is based on 2024 income data, the survey does not take into account recent Government measures to reduce child poverty, that were included in Budgets 2025 and 2026. These included some of the most significant investments that any Government has introduced in order to tackle child poverty. For example, Budget 2026 contained a €320 million social welfare package specifically to reduce child poverty.
Key measures included the largest ever increases to Child Support Payments (16% for children under 12 and over 25% for children over 12), higher income thresholds for the Working Family Payment, and expanded access to the Fuel Allowance and the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance. It also extended the Hot School Meals programme to make it available to all primary schools. This additional investment supplements other cross-government supports, such as free school books, free GP visit cards and enhancements to Early Childhood Care and Education schemes.
While the impact of some of these non-cash measures may never be fully reflected in poverty statistics, I am confident that they, together with the increase in welfare payments, will bring us closer to achieving our child poverty target.
Due to sample size constraints within the SILC survey, the CSO does not publish poverty data at county level, and it is therefore not possible to provide a breakdown of the number of children living in poverty by county. The production of SILC and poverty data is a matter for the CSO.
