148,000 children live in poverty

THE amount of children living in consistent poverty would fill Croke Park almost twice over, according to a new report.

Nearly 150,000 children are being brought up in households which don’t have enough money to meet basic needs such as adequate food, clothing and heat. The Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) said these 148,000 children make up 15% of the nation’s children. “Many of these children are in lone parent households, in families where the head of household is ill or disabled or in larger families,” said the CPA’s 2004 annual report.

The CPA said, when income alone is considered, almost a quarter of children (242,000) are in households living below the poverty line of €192 per week.