The Irish Times view on cost-of-living increases: children are bearing the brunt
The upward spiral in the cost of living may have now abated to less than 2 per cent per year but the cumulative 20 per cent jump since 2020 has a long tail. A spate of recent studies and reports have detailed how rising costs impose an unfair burden on the most vulnerable, with children bearing the brunt of it.
A study compiled by the
St Vincent de Paul
found that many families have been left struggling to make ends meet in the wake of the rise in the cost of everyday goods and services.
The income of a one-parent household which is dependent on social welfare supports – with a primary and second-level school-going child – only covers 82 per cent of their minimum needs as defined by the study. Many low-income families are dependent on in-work supports such as housing and childcare payments, even though family members are in employment.
Even in those households deemed above the poverty line – defined as having a disposable income above 60 per cent of the median – many children experienced deprivation, such as not having a warm home or a second pair of sturdy shoes. Almost one in five children fit into this category, says the Economic & Social Research Institute, which identifies housing costs, disability and lone parenting as drivers of what they term enforced deprivation.
READ MORE
A report from the
Children's Rights Alliance
finds that the number of children in consistent poverty in Ireland had increased by more than 45,000 in one year, bringing the total to over 100,000. Children are the most likely group in society to experience poverty, according to the alliance. The issue has also come to the attention of the
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
which has written to primary and post-primary schools, outlining a series of recommendations aimed at cutting back-to-school costs. The CCPC cites research by the Irish League of Credit Unions that found two-thirds of families see back to school costs to be a significant burden.
The publication of these reports and studies on the cost of living and its impact on child poverty comes as the Government kicked off the Budget 2026 process this week at the National Economic Dialogue. It is probably not entirely coincidental.
The issue is clearly on the Government's radar with the
Taoiseach telling the dialogue
meeting he has asked his Ministers to come up with measures that 'will really make the difference to the most vulnerable families and children'. The Taoiseach has not ruled out the introduction of a second tier of child benefit payments –
a measure supported by ESRI research
– in the budget. He has cautioned that it is important to first determine if the current spike in child poverty is a temporary blip after a period of progress. That would seem most unlikely given the evidence to hand.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Disappearing down a hole
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole (' Official reports are disappearing down the Irish 'memory hole'. ' June 17th) identifies a problem that extends far beyond Irish government reports. The phenomenon of 'unpublishing' is rife globally. I have found a number of accounts of speeches that I have referred to in previous research across a wide range of topics hard to retrace ie they have completely disappeared from internet search engines, despite my having details of date etc. This is especially the case when what was said no longer suits the current moment. Thus, I can imagine that right now support for net zero and tackling the climate emergency is going to vanish from the online record of speeches by many public figures as long as Trump is in power. READ MORE Public figures should of course be free to change their minds, but it is sad that they should be able to erase the record of their previous opinions so easily. – Yours, etc. PROF ADRIAN GUELKE Fitzwilliam Street, Belfast.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Stormont is slow, afraid of new thinking and costly, says report
Reading the latest report by the Belfast-based Pivotal think tank into the operations of the Stormont Executive, Assembly and Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is like watching an episode of the much-loved 1980s TV series Yes, Minister, but minus the jokes. Throughout, the fruits of months of conversations with 30 former ministers, senior civil servants, special advisers and some of those who deal frequently with Stormont on policy questions reveals a litany of failures, blockages and short-sightedness. As always in organisations, the principal issues centre on culture. 'Civil servants are broadly committed and enthusiastic, but they are held back by a burdensome system. Risk aversion acts as a brake on progress at every stage,' the report says. 'This seems to have got worse in recent years. Innovation is not always encouraged, and change is often resisted. While delivery is a priority in principle, it doesn't always translate into practice.' READ MORE Too often, Pivotal says, officials make decisions out of fear of a subsequent Northern Ireland Audit Office report, or a grilling before Stormont's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), or being the subject of a judicial review. The PAC uses its time and profile to go through departments' 'bad holiday snaps' in search of a 'gotcha' moment that will dominate the evening TV headlines, it says. Even here, it frequently falls short of the mark as a spending watchdog, with one retired civil servant witheringly saying officials 'wouldn't be afraid' of appearing before it given its 'poor questioning and scrutiny skills'. While they are not afraid of audits, or the PAC, they are afraid of the press, something that has got worse since news reporting exposed the 'cash for ash' scandal, which has cost NI taxpayers £500 million that they know about, but probably more. [ Cash for ash scandal: Everybody is to blame, nobody is to blame Opens in new window ] In an effort to avoid taking responsibility, officials are overly willing to hire consultants and, as a consequence, fail to build up the skills of their staff, the report says. The sums being spent are now causing 'alarm' among those interviewed. A business leader, speaking anonymously, as every interviewee does in the report, believes Stormont is 'creating middle-class industries'. Consultants have become 'an ordinary part of working' in Stormont's hard wiring, according to most of those who contributed. Too often, however, as one retired senior official put it acidly, they 'borrow your watch and tell you the time'. Inside the bureaucracy, things move at 'a glacial pace', according to a former minister, with officials unwilling to quickly change their ways of working or move into new roles. 'Pace is not what civil servants do well. They do process well,' said a business leader. If it does process well, Stormont does not do outcomes. Interviewees were, Pivotal reports, shocked at the lack of attention given to whether a programme's aims are achieved, with the focus instead on ensuring all the money allocated is spent. 'The system needs to be turned on its head and see the reason for doing this is not just the pound notes, it's actually about changing the place,' said one business representative experienced in Stormont's ways. Bureaucracy 'can thwart change easily', said one former minister, while a former special adviser believed the system often thought more about 'finding their people something to do' than having them do something productive. Too often, life inside the Stormont bureaucracy is about management rather than change. 'Every day a business will ask 'How do I make my business better – quicker, stronger, better?' There is very little of this in the NICS,' said one business leader. If officials like talking to consultants, they do not like talking to anyone else, the Pivotal report states. They are 'not inclined to engage in difficult conversation' with outsiders, said a former minister. The voluntary sector was scathing of the way it feels it is treated by Stormont. Often, according to the report, the sector gets little more than 'lip service', while consultations that do take place are regarded as box-ticking exercises rather than meetings where they are listened to. Stormont departments operate in silos, the report notes, unwilling to co-operate with colleagues in other departments. Jayne Brady, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, enjoys no formal authority over departmental permanent secretaries, the report notes, who are instead accountable only to their ministers for policy, to the NI Department of Finance for spending, and to the Stormont Assembly. Ministers are said to get bogged down in day-to-day matters rather than the bigger issues, and they are seen as having a preference for making announcements rather than the drudgery of reaching long-term goals. Their behaviour can delay or even halt delivery, particularly when matters political, or local, get in the way. One former official delivered a backhanded compliment, saying: 'I have never worked with anybody who didn't really care'. Stormont's political structures – where the Executive does not operate by collective responsibility and where ministers are appointed by their parties – does not help, the report finds. 'Many interviewees pointed to political disagreements that slowed down delivery of important policies, whether those disagreements were about policy design, who would benefit, or local impacts.'
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Trinity climbs to 75th in world university rankings
Trinity College Dublin , Ireland's highest-ranked third-level institution, has jumped 12 places to 75th in the latest set of world university rankings, while Ireland is the most improved higher education system in Europe. The QS World University Rankings 2026 show that seven of Ireland's eight universities have climbed up the global league table, boosted by factors such as employer reputation and the rising proportion of international staff and students. For the first time all Irish universities now feature among the world's top 800. While Trinity is the highest ranked, it is followed by UCD (118th, up eight places), UCC (246th, up 27 places), University of Galway (284th, down 11 places), University of Limerick (401st, up 20 places) and Dublin City University (410th, up 11 places). READ MORE In addition Maynooth University has climbed the rankings (771-780th, up from 801-850) along with Technological University Dublin (781-790, up from 851-900). The QS World University Rankings 2026 evaluate more than 1,500 universities across 100 countries and territories. Rank in Ireland 2026 rank 2025 rank Institution 1 75 87 Trinity College Dublin 2 118 =126 University College Dublin 3 246 =273 University College Cork 4 284 =273 University of Galway / Ollscoil na Gaillimhe 5 =401 =421 University of Limerick 6 =410 =421 Dublin City University 7 771-780 801-850 Maynooth University 8 781-790 851-900 Technological University of Dublin Overall, MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, retains its top position for the 14th year, followed by Imperial College London (second) – led by former UCD president Prof Hugh Brady – and Stanford University (third). While there are more than a dozen world university rankings, the QS version is considered by education observers as one of the 'big three', alongside Times Higher Education and Shanghai's Academic Ranking of World Universities. Critics say university rankings are not an accurate measure of performance and neglect key areas such as the quality of teaching and learning. They remain influential internationally, however, in areas such as reputation, research and student choice. The rankings show Trinity College Dublin improved across key indicators used such as academic reputation, international faculty and graduate outcomes. Trinity's provost Dr Linda Doyle said the rankings news 'encourages us to be even bolder in our ambition for Trinity and, indeed, for Ireland – an ambition that should be championed and defended regardless of the rankings'. She said a sustainable funding model for higher education in Ireland was key to helping it thrive. 'While increased core funding helps us to achieve our ambitions on the national and international stage, we need to see an absolute step-change in how universities and research are funded in Ireland.' Universities have welcomed additional core funding in the Budget 2025, but noted that a €307 million funding gap identified by Government in 2022 is still not fully closed. Ben Sowter, senior vice-president at QS, said Ireland's 'outstanding results' showed the country's campuses were increasingly 'open and diverse, which benefits both domestic and international students, as well as employers seeking globally minded talent'. He said Ireland outperformed many European counterparts and global English-speaking student destinations in key areas such as employer reputation, international faculty and sustainability. Every Irish university also improved its international students ratio, reflecting growing international appeal and diversity on Irish campuses. Mr Sowter said general improvements across the board in academic reputation also showed the increased regard in which institutions' research and educational innovativeness is held. 'Improving the ratio of faculty to students, heightening intensity of research undertaken at universities and ensuring graduates are supported to go on to make meaningful impacts on society will help Irish universities keep improving and making positive contributions to both Ireland and the globe,' he said. Globally, the US remains the most represented system, with 192 universities, and sees more institutions rise than fall in this edition. China has continued its ascent with Peking University holding on to its 14th place, while Tsinghua University rose to 17th, and Fudan University climbed nine spots to 30th, signalling a strong research-led push.
