This year’s budget must focus on breaking the cycle of poverty impacting children and families right across Ireland, the Children’s Rights Alliance has warned.
The alliance is making the call ahead of End Child Poverty Week, which runs from Monday to Friday next week.
The children's charity is using the week-long event to put a spotlight on child poverty – and highlight its impact on children, young people and families.
The group is hosting a range of seminars throughout End Child Poverty Week, focusing in on key areas of child poverty – from early years and education to income, child welfare and alternative care.
The first event, to be held this Monday, will focus on Educational Inequality and feature a keynote addresses from Senator Eileen Flynn and DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre Director Prof Paul Downes.
It will be followed by an expert panel discussion featuring:
- Áine O Keefe, Director, Tusla Education Support Service
- Julie Ahern, Director of Legal, Policy and Services, Children’s Rights Alliance
- David Duffy, Education Officer, Teachers' Union of Ireland
- Elaine Dunphy, Home School Liaison Officer in Dublin 1
- Shane Loftus, Principal of Our Lady Immaculate SNS, Darndale and a former Home School Liaison Teacher and a former Executive member of the INTO.
The online event takes place between 10.30am and 1pm.
Day Four, meanwhile, will feature a keynote speech from Dublin City Community Cooperative Chair and Maynooth Professor Hugh Frazer.
The expert panel will feature:
- Derval McDonagh, CEO, Inclusion Ireland
- Paul Gordon, Director of Policy and Advocacy, National Youth Council of Ireland
- Louise Bayliss, National Spokesperson, SPARK Ireland
- Seamus Boland, CEO, Irish Rural Link
- Sara Cid, Researcher, Irish Refugee Council
You can register to attend in person or online here.
Friday’s closing event will focus on the importance of breaking the cycle of poverty early in a child's life.
It will feature a keynote address from Professor Mathias Urban of the DCU Early Childhood Research Centre.
That will be followed by an expert panel chaired by Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family, featuring:
- Dr Anne Marie Brooks - Assistant Secretary General of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
- Grainne McKenna -Assistant Professor at Dublin City University, Institute of Education
- Tracey Reilly - Education Development Worker, Pavee Point
- Dr Naomi Feely, Senior Research and Policy Officer, Children’s Rights Alliance
- Geraldine O'Hara, Head of Operations, Daughters of Charity
You can register to attend online here.
