The dynamics of child poverty in Ireland: Evidence from the Growing Up in Ireland survey

Abstract

The mission of The Economic and Social Research Institute is to advance evidencebased policymaking that supports economic sustainability and social progress in Ireland. ESRI researchers apply the highest standards of academic excellence to challenges facing policymakers, focusing on 12 areas of critical importance to 21 st Century Ireland.The Institute was founded in 1960 by a group of senior civil servants led by Dr T.K. Whitaker, who identified the need for independent and in-depth research analysis to provide a robust evidence base for policymaking in Ireland.Since then, the Institute has remained committed to independent research and its work is free of any expressed ideology or political position. The Institute publishes all research reaching the appropriate academic standard, irrespective of its findings or who funds the research.The quality of its research output is guaranteed by a rigorous peer review process. ESRI researchers are experts in their fields and are committed to producing work that meets the highest academic standards and practices.The work of the Institute is disseminated widely in books, journal articles and reports. ESRI publications are available to download, free of charge, from its website. Additionally, ESRI staff communicate research findings at regular conferences and seminars.The ESRI is a company limited by guarantee, answerable to its members and governed by a Council, comprising 14 members who represent a cross-section of ESRI members from academia, civil services, state agencies, businesses and civil society. The Institute receives an annual grant-in-aid from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to support the scientific and public interest elements of the Institute's activities; the grant accounted for an average of 30 per cent of the Institute's income over the lifetime of the last Research Strategy. The remaining funding comes from research programmes supported by government departments and agencies, public bodies and competitive research programmes.

Children of Migrants in Ireland: How Are They Faring?

“…This may facilitate more lowincome migrant families to access formal pre-school childcare than has been the case for this cohort, and thereby enable more migrant mothers to return to work after childbirth, if they wish, even if their earnings are low. This is important given that maternal employment can act as a protective factor against poverty and economic vulnerability, particularly among low-income families (Maître et al, 2021). The streamlined nature of the National Childcare Scheme, designed to make the system clearer and more straightforward, may also be an advantage for migrant parents in navigating the complex system of childcare provision in Ireland.…”

Headline Poverty Target Reduction in Ireland and the Role of Work and Social Welfare

“…This coincides with at a time when deprivations rose rapidly, while AROP remained stable which gave rise to a mismatch between the two measures. More substantively, during this period a significant number of those who had previously been well insulated from poverty, such as the selfemployed, entered poverty and experienced greater economic stress (Whelan et al, 2018;Maître et al, 2021).…”

“…There is also a large body of international comparative studies that looks at the relationship between social transfers and poverty Marlier et al, 1999;Atkinson, 2000;Caminada & Goudswaard, 2009;Bibi & Duclos, 2009;Eurostat, 2010). Most studies find that there is a strong relationship between the level of social expenditure and the poverty level.…”

“…This contrasts with Chapter 2, which considered across-the-board increases in cash transfers. For instance, child benefit, working-family payment and QCI are policies which target child poverty 38 Given the current policy concerns about rising rental costs and previous findings of affordability problems and poverty after housing costs among those in the private rental and Local Authority rental sectors (Russell et al, 2021), the impact on poverty among renters is also considered. 39 For the purposes of this paper, core benefits refer to the major working-age benefits listed above.…”

“…In our analysis using SWITCH, we consider how increases in spending on the following transfers below impact on the poverty rate of the whole population, as well as the adult, elderly and child subpopulations. Given the current policy concerns about rising rental costs and previous findings of affordability problems and poverty after housing costs among those in the private rental and Local Authority rental sectors (Russell et al, 2021), the impact on poverty among people renting is also considered. These benefits were chosen due to their ability to target each of the main sub-populations: We simulated the impact of two welfare reforms: a simulation with individual reforms of €100 million each per annum and one of €1 billion per annum each.…”