Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister Dara Calleary publish the new National Child Poverty Target

The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD and the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, have published a new National Child Poverty Target, following Government approval today.

The Programme for Government 2025: Securing Ireland’s Future contains a commitment to set a new Child Poverty Target and examine ways to lift more children out of poverty.

The new Child Poverty Target is set at 3% or less (based on consistent poverty), to be achieved by the end of 2030. This goal is very ambitious, reflecting a reduction of 5.5% from the current child consistent poverty rate.

This Child Poverty Target will significantly contribute to the wider whole of Government approach to address child poverty, including the work of the Child Poverty and Well-Being Programme Office in the Department of the Taoiseach, and the development of a new Roadmap for Social Inclusion, to cover the period 2026-2030.

Publishing the target, the Taoiseach said:

“Reducing child poverty and ensuring every child has a great start in life are key priorities for this Government. So today, I am delighted to publish the new ambitious child poverty target. In the years ahead, this will guide our cross-government policies and ensure investment is targeted at the families and children who need it the most.”

Commenting today, Minister Calleary said:

“The publication of this target highlights this Government’s commitment to reduce child poverty and foster children’s well-being. Children who grow up in poverty are far more likely to experience poverty as adults. As Minister for Social Protection, I am determined to break the cycle of lifelong and inter-generational poverty.

“Recent Budgets have continued to provide supports for the most vulnerable children in our society, through measures such as increases in the Child Support Payment, the Working Family Payment thresholds, free schoolbooks, and the extension of Hot School Meals to all primary schools. These and future budget measures are important factors towards achieving the target set.”

Given the multi-faceted nature of child poverty, both targeted income measures, and non-income measures, such as housing, education, childcare and health services, are key in reducing child poverty, as well as high quality and sustainable employment.

This will be reflected in a Dashboard of Indicators that will be used alongside the new Child Poverty Target. This Dashboard has been collated by the Child Poverty and Well-Being Programme Office in the Department of the Taoiseach. It allows for a more holistic view of child poverty and supports interpretation of the overall child poverty target, while tracking progress on key metrics.

Considering the significant fluctuations in child poverty over recent years, the Dashboard of Indicators includes a rolling average of consistent child poverty over a 3-year period. This has the advantage of focusing on trends in child poverty over the period and would assist in mitigating any sudden large fluctuation in a single year.

Progress towards the Target will also be reported on in the successor strategy to the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, which is due to be completed in the first half of 2026 and will for the first time include a specific focus on tackling and reducing child poverty.