NGO Groups form Anti-child Poverty group

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 04, 2003 16:51 by Graham Caswell - Green Party

Green Party Press Release

Green TD Dan Boyle uses launch of Anti-child Poverty group to criticise the government for leaving a quarter of a million children in relative poverty.

Green Party Social and Family Affairs spokesperson, Dan Boyle, TD has welcomed the coming together of several non-governmental organisations to deal with the rights and welfare of children and young people today, claiming that "this coalition will now challenge the Government to bring child poverty to an end and is worthy of widespread political support".

Mr. Boyle said, "A quarter of a million children in this country live in relative poverty in families where household income is less than 50% of the national average. Campaigners should not to be bamboozled by the Government's insistence that 'consistent' poverty is the yardstick by which success should be measured."

"The budget, combined with the Government's reluctance to introduce rights-based legislation, undermines the credibility of this administration."

Mr. Boyle said that there was an urgent need to fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Irish law and called on the Government to make this an immediate priority.