One Family, the organisation for one-parent families, has warned of a rise in poverty rates for lone parents after the Central Statistics Office published its 2022 Survey on Income and Living Conditions.
The survey found that more than 40% of households with one adult and children are living in deprivation. This compares to 18% of two-parent households.
The CEO of children's charity Barnardos said deprivation is defined as being without essentials, such as not having a warm nutritious meal, or clothes and shoes and a warm home.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Suzanne Connolly said the impact for children living in poverty is seen in their physical well-being, their social and emotional well-being.
She said that the longer children live in poverty, it will affect their health outcomes, their educational outcomes and ultimately, their employment opportunities.
"We're calling on the Government in Budget 24 to increase the income supports for lone parents, for families, and working family allowance for families who have no parent working," she said.
"We know that if the Government invests in children, it will make such a difference to their lives and indeed to Irish society, well into the future."
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Ms Connolly said income supports are a key factor for families, and she urged the Government to invest in supports that ensure that children have positive educational outcomes "because we know that education is the root out of poverty."
She said these services should include services for young mothers to ensure they can stay in education as well as after school clubs, breakfast clubs.
'Those children have a really poor chance in life'
Ms Connolly welcomed the further rollout of the hot school meals, but said there needs to be investment in intensive family supports because some children are living with multiple adversities.
"There's poverty, there's parental addiction, there is domestic violence," she said.
"Those children have a really poor chance in life unless there's wraparound services which ensure that they can have positive expectations of themselves and their future and they're given the adequate supports that they need to thrive and develop and live a life full of hope and possibilities so they can see themselves doing really well in the future, and that's what we're calling on this Government to do and to have tangible and concrete outcomes."
Ms Connolly said that the children most at risk of poverty are those born into circumstances where their parents cannot be there for them because the parents are dealing with so many difficulties themselves.
"Their children are living in real vulnerable families with multiple adversities and that's why we're asking for intensive family support alongside income protection and that the society as a whole, the community as a whole, are given the support to wrap around those children," she said.
"So the children always have someone to turn to if their parents aren't available to encourage them to have the positive expectations that that many parents have for their children.
"Because you can deal with anything when you have key adults in your corner."
