Latest news with #TanyaWard
BreakingNews.ie
25-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Calls for public inquiry into disappearance of Kyran Durnin
Calls are being made for a public inquiry into the disappearance of Kyran Durnin. The schoolboy, who would have celebrated his ninth birthday last month, was last seen in public three years ago. Advertisement Gardaí investigating his murder continue to appeal for information. Speaking on Newstalk, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward, said there are far too many unanswered questions. "I want to know what happened in the spectrum on his life. What service did Kyran Durnin have interaction with early on in his life and, at some point, could some intervention have prevented whatever happened to him? "And we don't know what happened to him, so I do think we need some sort of review, at the very least, to assess what went wrong." During the course of the murder investigation, gardaí carried out searches of properties and adjoining land in Co Louth. Gardaí believe Kyran Durnin might have died aged six after it emerged he had not been seen since May 2022 when he was a pupil at a primary school in Dundalk.
Irish Examiner
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Government should shoulder payroll costs in childcare sector, Oireachtas committee told
The Government should take on the payroll costs of childcare providers and make early years educators public sector workers as part of essential reform to the system, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Children's Rights Alliance CEO Tanya Ward told TDs and Senators on the Oireachtas Children's Committee that it could be a 'groundbreaking move'. She said that one in four early years educators are leaving the sector and the main issue is the 'lack of parity of esteem' with the likes of primary school teachers. 'They all go in with the same aspirations, but the primary school teachers will stay in that area of education,' she said. 'And the early years educators won't because they can't live on the wages and salaries. And then any move forward towards affordability, a move towards a public model, the first thing has to be recognition and pay and conditions for the staff working in the services.' In a wide-ranging hearing, the Children's Rights Alliance also fielded questions around the safety of kids online and data on child poverty. Online safety Describing the availability of pornography as a 'massive issue', Ms Ward said the younger a child is when they come into contact with violent pornography, the more damaging it is. 'We are hearing, as you would know, from the rape crisis centers,' she said. 'They are saying it seems to be a feature in some of the sexual assaults that are happening for teenagers. And some of those teenagers present as adults when they come looking for treatment. 'It should be the case that no child should arrive and land on a pornography site, and we need to put the onus actually on the provider to ensure they don't have children accessing the site.' Child poverty She also said that statistics have shown that over 100,000 children in Ireland are living in consistent poverty, 'feeling the grind of deep poverty and the isolation of social exclusion day in, day out'. This has been exacerbated by the housing crisis, leaving thousands of children living day-to-day in emergency accommodation. As well as that, children are living in overcrowded accommodation which is impacting their education and growth. On Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the National Economic Dialogue that recent increases in the number of children living in poverty must become a 'temporary spike, out of line with the overall trend'. 'Therefore, for Budget 2026, I have asked my ministerial colleagues to plan and come forward with measures that will really make the difference to the most vulnerable families and children,' he said.
Irish Examiner
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: What kind of future are we building?
It has long been a cliché to seize upon a particular headline or story as illustrating the seriousness of a society's challenges, the personification of its problems. However, this week offered us a true indictment of our country. The Child Poverty Monitor report for 2025 was launched yesterday by the Children's Rights Alliance, and shows that the consistent poverty rate among children is higher than in any other age group. It also found that the rate also rose significantly last year. The term 'significantly' is appropriate. CEO Tanya Ward said: 'What is deeply concerning is the number of children in consistent poverty, who are living in these conditions perpetually, which rose by a staggering 45,107 in 2024 to 102,977. 'These are children for whom a decent standard of living and aspirations of a better future diminish day by day.' Notwithstanding the untruths promoted by the far right and other bad actors, Ireland is a wealthy country with huge resources. The fact that over 100,000 Irish children are in consistent poverty should be a matter of profound shame for all of us. It is a betrayal of the principles of any civilised democracy that such a situation can develop. As Ms Ward pointed out, not only are those children in the grip of poverty now, their chances of a better future are compromised by the conditions and circumstances we have allowed to become a toxic web this country. The housing and accommodation crisis is clearly one of the dominant strands in that web, which made another announcement yesterday particularly timely. Housing minister James Browne brought proposals to Cabinet for an overhaul of rent pressure zones, which will now apply across the entire country. This move is part of an overall Government plan to attract international investment to kickstart the building of apartments. Facilitating property investment by overseas operators is not a move likely to win favour with many people struggling to find homes, but all options must be considered in a crisis of this scale. That is no exaggeration when over 100,000 children are in poverty, and when the prospect of intergenerational poverty is very real for many of them. Trump's vain display of power Senator Tom Clonan made a telling comparison online yesterday when considering the situation in Los Angeles, where US president Donald Trump has mobilised thousands of National Guard troops. They have been sent to the city in response to the reaction of locals to a series of crackdowns on and arrests in immigrant communities, which included the arrest of a union leader acting as an observer. The National Guard presence has now been augmented by the mobilisation of hundreds of US Marines, a rare instance of US army personnel being deployed on home soil. Nothing says loss of civil control and order quite like sending in the army, no matter the location. As Mr Clonan noted on social media, in a nod to our own recent history, it is 'never a good idea to deploy marines/paratroopers into civilian environment — we learned at considerable cost in Ireland that 'police primacy' is only solution to public disorder'. Whether Trump is genuinely interested in quelling public disorder or has another agenda altogether is another matter entirely. The governor of California is Gavin Newsom, one of the (increasingly numerous) potential Democratic Party candidates who may run for president in 2028. Is Trump trying to blacken Newsom's reputation ahead of that campaign or does he have even baser reasons? We have seen over the decades that military adventures are a tried-and-trusted ploy of US presidents seeking to distract voters from other issues — though such adventures tend to occur abroad rather than at home. Trump has had a well-publicised spat in recent days with X owner Elon Musk —his billionaire backer and one-time sidekick — with the two exchanging various insults online. Sending armed troops to the second-largest city in the US is the kind of expression of raw power that might be expected of someone fond of expressions of raw power. That may be Trump's motivation, but for many others it looks like another marker of US decline — with the end of that decline not yet in sight. Fact or fiction The death of novelist Frederick Forsyth was announced this week. He was 86. A successful journalist in the 60s, he was broke when he hit upon an idea for a thriller, writing The Day of the Jackal in 35 days. The book became a runaway success and Forsyth went on to write a series of thrillers including The Odessa File and The Dogs of War — they sold in their millions and many were also made into successful films. He spent several years living in Wicklow during the 70s, availing of the Irish tax exemption for artists and writers which had been introduced by Charles Haughey. He would later claim that when he told Haughey of his desire to leave Ireland and return to Britain, he was offered a seat in the Seanad — though it might be as well to file that yarn with his claim to have spied for M16 while working as a journalist. In later years, he advocated for Brexit and doubted climate change, but was always honest about his motives. 'I am slightly mercenary,' he said once. 'I write for money.' Read More Irish Examiner view: We need to eradicate TB for good
The Irish Sun
10-06-2025
- General
- The Irish Sun
Over 100k Irish kids are living in consistent poverty – Government must act now in these 4 key areas to break the cycle
THE Children's Rights Alliance launched its latest annual Child Poverty Monitor yesterday. This gives an insight into the lived reality of children and young people experiencing poverty. 2 Children's Rights Alliance's Tanya Ward looks at four key areas where children were failed last year. Credit: MAXWELLS DUBLIN 2 The number of children living in consistent poverty in 2024 almost doubled Credit: Getty Images - Getty The number of Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, said: 'A childhood in poverty is one spent in cold, dark and damp housing, travelling hours just to get to school or knowing that there won't be a hot dinner for the rest of the week. 'Thousands of families are being forced to live on such tight margins that they live in constant fear of their child needing a 'What is deeply concerning is the number of children in consistent poverty - who are living in these conditions perpetually. These are children for whom a decent standard of living and aspirations of a better future diminish day by day. Read more in News 'This poverty is not inevitable. Policy decisions and budget investments determine the fate of these children and young people.' Here, Tanya looks at four key areas where children were failed last year. HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS WE only need to look at last month's figures that show an additional 100 children made homeless to know that the current policy is not working and inflicting untold trauma on the now 4,775 children without a home. The rise in homeless figures is nothing new. We have seen a year-on-year increase every time we publish the Child Poverty Monitor. The combination of rising rents and a scarcity of supply has resulted in thousands of families being made homeless but also, countless more living in seriously cramped and inappropriate conditions. Most read in The Irish Sun Overcrowding is a major issue for children living on the lowest incomes. Almost one in four children at risk of poverty are growing up in overcrowded households. While the trend is more common across Europe, the rate of overcrowding for children has effectively doubled in FAMILY SUPPORT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE WITHOUT access to critical child protection and welfare services and family support in their community, families are pushed further to breaking point. Referrals to Tusla Child and Family Agency have increased by 70 per cent since 2019. Last year's budget allocation to Tusla was mostly to maintain existing levels of care, failing to acknowledge the spike in referrals and the increased complexity of cases. We are calling for direct investment of €50million to ensure our core child protection and welfare services are supported to help children most vulnerable in society. ADEQUATE INCOME: POVERTY and income are inextricably linked. As rent and the cost of living eat away at available income, families are left without enough money in their pockets, going to extraordinary lengths and debts just to get through the week. Positively, This targeted income support is designed to help children in families already relying on It is critical that these supports are increased adequately in Budget 2026, and that investment is sustained across subsequent budgets under this EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION: THE single most effective action the Government can take in breaking the intergenerational cycle of child poverty is to invest in children in their early years. The Government has taken the first step in addressing this through the development of Equal Start that aims to deliver universal and targeted supports to families and early years settings grappling with the impact of poverty. However, the programme is not sufficiently funded. We need to see investment significantly scaled up in Budget 2026. Poverty is scarring for children. Schools are grappling with crime, violence, addiction, death in their school communities and childhood trauma that is beyond the capacity of the current DEIS programme. There are also children experiencing poverty who do not attend a DEIS school. We need to see the introduction of a dedicated fund for non-DEIS schools so they can respond and support their students dealing with adverse childhood experiences. The multifaceted nature of child poverty is laid bare in the Child Poverty Monitor and in wider research. As it stands, it will take Ireland four to five generations to break the cycle of poverty. Children cannot wait that long.
BreakingNews.ie
10-06-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Over 100,000 children living in poverty across Ireland
Over 100,000 children in Ireland are now living in consistent poverty, a number that has risen by 45,000 in just one year. Spiralling rents and high prices are being cited as the main reasons. The Child Poverty Monitor from the Children's Rights Alliance found a scarcity of housing has led thousands of families into homelessness, with countless more living on top of each other in seriously cramped and inappropriate conditions. Speaking about the report, Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance said: 'A childhood in poverty is one spent in cold, dark and damp housing, travelling hours just to get to school or knowing that there will not be a hot dinner for the rest of the week. Advertisement "Thousands of families are being forced to live on such tight margins that they live in constant fear of their child needing a hospital visit or getting a letter home about the next school trip.' 'What is deeply concerning is the number of children in consistent poverty - who are living in these conditions perpetually–which rose by a staggering 45,107 in 2024 to 102,977. "These are children for whom a decent standard of living and aspirations of a better future diminish day by day. This poverty is not inevitable. Policy decisions and budget investments determine the fate of these children and young people.' She said there is plenty of progress to report in 2025. Free school books, hot school meals and free GP care for children under eight are now guaranteed supports that all children benefit from, but particularly those experiencing poverty. Advertisement Universal measures have advanced, many quicker than expected such as the historic billion-euro investments in childcare. These have come at the expense of the targeted measures and strategic investment that are critical to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty our children are inheriting. Budget 2026 has to focus on breaking the cycle. In terms of housing she said we only need to look at last month's figures that show an additional 100 children made homeless to know that the current policy is not working and inflicting untold trauma on the now 4,775 children without a home to call their own. "The rise in homeless figures is nothing new. Advertisement "We have seen a year on a year increase every time we publish the Child Poverty Monitor. The combination of rising rents (latest average reaching over €2,000 a month nationally) and a scarcity of supply has resulted in thousands of families being made homeless but also, countless more living on top of each other or in seriously cramped and inappropriate conditions,' Tanya Ward said. 'Overcrowding is a major issue for children living on the lowest incomes. Almost one in four children at risk of poverty are growing up in overcrowded households, completely unsuitable to meet their needs or their families. "While the trend is more common across Europe, the rate of overcrowding for children has effectively doubled in Ireland from 2021 to 2024, and we are only scratching the surface on what impact these conditions are having on children. Child protection services "From ESRI research, we know that this can have detrimental impacts such as poorer wellbeing, greater conflict and disrupted family relationships and a knock-on effect on educational outcomes. We are also likely to see increases in the number of children referred to Tusla. The Government needs to look at the impact of overcrowding on children and young people.' Advertisement She said without access to critical child protection and welfare services and family support in their community, families are pushed further to breaking point. Referrals to Tusla have increased by 70 per cent since 2019. The Daniel McAnaspie Inquest called for a review of child protection and welfare services to ensure that Tusla has sufficient resourcing to keep children safe. 'Last year's budget allocation to Tusla was mostly to maintain existing levels of care, failing to acknowledge the spike in referrals and the increased complexity of cases. Budget 2026 cannot leave these children behind. We are calling for direct investment of €50 million to ensure our core child protection and welfare services are supported to help children most vulnerable in society," she said. Ms Ward said poverty and income are inextricably linked. As rent and the cost of living eat away at available income, families are left without enough money in their pockets, going to extraordinary lengths and debts just to get through the week. Advertisement "Positively, Budget 2025 acknowledged the higher cost of older children by raising the Child Support Payment, but the incremental increases of a few euro are barely enough to buy the bottle of milk and shampoo that week," "This targeted income support is designed to help children in families already relying on social welfare to level the playing field. The cumulative impact of continued rising costs has created a landslide effect for low-income families, meaning ensuring the very basic necessities such as nutritious food or keeping your home warm become increasingly difficult," she said. She said the single most effective action the Government can take in breaking the intergenerational cycle of child poverty is to invest in children in their early years. Infants and small children living in poverty need wraparound early years support. The Government has taken the first step in addressing these issues through the development of Equal Start that aims to deliver universal and targeted supports to families and early years settings grappling with the impact of poverty and social exclusion.
