Barnardos says 66,000 children living in poverty

Children's charity Barnardos said today that 66,000 children are living in consistent poverty in Ireland.

The charity also noted 19 per cent of children are leaving school before finishing the Leaving Certificate and 1,000 children a year fail to move from primary to secondary education.

Ireland also has some of the youngest drug addicts and underage binge drinking levels in the EU, the charity pointed out this morning.

The charity today launched a 12-year strategy based on the 1916 Proclamation's vision of cherishing "all children of the nation equally", and Barnardos is hoping to achieve that to coincide with the centenary of the Easter Rising.

Speaking at the launch of "Valuing Childhood - Cherishing Children", Barnardos chief executive Mr Owen Keenan described the plan an "ambitious, exciting undertaking".

Mr Keenan claimed that Ireland had a "poor record of investment in early education and care". Six per cent of children still experience deprivation and poverty. "The challenge is to intervene and break perpetuating cycles - we will not accept that children of vulnerable parents are automatically consigned to a life of deprivation," he said.

The new plan includes investment and activity in six areas - services, research, advocacy, field-building, organisational support and funding.

Barnardos services will incorporate three targeted programmes within its services:

Best Start for those up to five years old, concentrating on early prevention, intervention and support at a pre-school level;

Best Chance for five to 10-year-olds, which focuses on improved learning and development to help them stay in school and progress;

and Best Choice for 10- to 15-year-olds, aiming to help vulnerable children make the transition to attitude.

Mr Keenan also pointed out the need for a collaborative approach. "Barnardos can influence but can't by itself deliver this Ireland," he said. "To realise the vision, we have to share it with others."

The charity plans to spend over €100 million on the programme over the next five years, which will be a mixture of 60 per cent statutory and 40 per cent voluntary funding.

A today's launch, the Minister of State for Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, praised Barnardos for its work. "The objectives you've set yourself are laudable," he said, describing the charity's plan as very well thought out.