Fergus Finlay: We have utterly failed to break cycle of poverty

We have “failed utterly” to break the cycle of poverty, according to the outgoing chief executive of Barnardos children’s charity, Fergus Finlay.

“With all the cross-cutting, whole-of-government approaches we have been following, thousands more children have fallen into consistent poverty,” he said.

“And that is even before we consider the truly appalling state of homelessness.”

He added: “Whatever position you hold on this issue, it is never and cannot be the child’s fault. Yet they are being punished in our republic of opportunity.

Mr Finlay was speaking as he launched Barnardos’ annual report, which shows that a record 15,300 children and families were helped by the charity last year.

He recalled standing in for Santa a couple of years ago at one of the charity’s projects in Finglas, Dublin.

Before Santa left the building, the boys and girls, all aged between four and five, decided they wanted to sing him a song. They gathered in a circle and all but one sang ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’.

Mr Finlay noticed the boy staring at the floor with his hands in his pockets.

Thinking that Santa had offended him in some way, he asked the project leader, Mary Corrigan, what the problem was.

It’s simple, he doesn’t know the words,” said Ms Corrigan.

Mr Finlay said he had never met a four-year-old boy who did not know the words of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ until that moment.

“But this, it turned out, was a little boy who had never had a lullaby sung to him at night, nor ever had a bedtime story read to him.”

That gap in the boy’s life would mean he started school behind his peers and was likely to stay behind until, frustrated and isolated, he started skipping school or disrupting the class, said Mr Finlay.

It could mean that, eventually, the boy would drop out of school in his mid-teens barely able to read and write.

If that happens, it may not be long before he has his first brush with risky behaviour and then with the law,” said Mr Finlay, who has worked with Barnardos since 2005.

“Not too long before he settles into a life where maybe he has kids of his own, who never get to hear him sing a lullaby.

“If you want to break the cycle [of poverty], start early.”

Mr Finlay said 86,585 children and families have been helped by Barnardos over the last 10 years and that was due to a strong and dedicated team that he had been proud to stand beside.

Mr Finlay said that, earlier this year, he thought he would run for president if President Michael D Higgins did not seek re-election.

“I was never going to run against Michael D, so I can’t do that now. I will have to wait another seven years.

“I’m having a lapel badge made — Áras 2025,” he joked.

He has no plans to go back working for the Labour Party but is open to job offers in the disability sector.

I want to get involved in some aspect of either disability service provision, disability campaigning, or disability advocacy.

“It is something I have always been passionate about.”

Barnardos director of children’s services, Suzanne Connolly, a social worker and expert in childhood development and child protection, will take over the role of charity chief executive next month.