Government Handed 'fail' Mark On New Report Card For Child Poverty

Government handed 'fail' mark on new report card for child poverty

The Children's Rights Alliance has handed the government a 'fail' mark on their latest report card for child poverty. Officials say that since the economic bubble burst, the number of young people in consistent poverty has doubled. The coalition has got a 'C' grade for its overall performance - but the area of poverty's been branded a 'shameful failure'. Fergus Finlay from Barnardos has been putting the number of deprived children in context. "it's now equal, roughly, to the entire population of County Mayo - it's 130,000 children" he said. "You can't live in child poverty just on the basis of an income figure, you have to be experiencing depravation". "And we have far too many children who are going hungry, who are not protected against cold weather, who don't ahve sufficient access to education and health" he added.