More than 225,000 children are now subject to income poverty after housing costs, according to research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

It means that one in five children in Ireland now lives in a family below the poverty line, matching the worst days of the 2008 economic crash. Statistics point to parents having to choose between food, clothing, lighting and heat as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.

The government’s official measures of poverty, and its poverty targets, typically do not account for housing costs.

Since 2021, nominal income increased by 11.3 per cent, but prices rose by 14.6 per cent for the average household. While average disposable incomes increased in cash terms, their growth was easily outpaced by rising prices.

Compounding the recent downturn, inflation has had a disproportionate impact on lower-income homes, for which lighting, heat and groceries account for a larger share of total expenditure. Most social welfare payments have not kept pace with inflation.

Meanwhile, as homelessness has soared to over 16,000 in the most recent figures, the number of homeless children has reached a record of over five thousand, and services for children, such as Tusla, the State agency responsible for child protection, are increasingly overwhelmed, with over 100,000 cases now being referred to the agency annually.

A meeting of the Sinn Féin parliamentary party, held in Dun Laoghaire ahead of the autumn Dáil and Seanad session, placed a specific focus on the government’s “appalling” record on children.

The meeting was addressed by Stephen Morrison, the father of nine-year- old Harvey who died in July and had been subject to delays in accessing urgent scoliosis surgery, and children’s rights campaigners.

Sinn Féin says that nine months on from the general election, the coalition government has “one of the worst delivery records in history”.

“They have been mired in controversy over the grubby deal which led to the government being formed, the misinformation during the election campaign to remain in power and the walking away from commitments which they made,” a statement said.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Social Protection, Louise O’Reilly TD, has said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s legacy of ever-increasing record levels of homelessness was destroying the aspirations of families and shattering the lives of our young people.

She said that the only progress that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had made was to succeed in normalising homelessness.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s legacy of ever-increasing record levels of homelessness is destroying the aspirations of families and shattering the lives of our young people,” she said.

“In 2019 – six years ago – the image of a homeless child eating his dinner off cardboard outside the GPO shocked the country.

“When my colleague Pearse Doherty raised this in the Dáil, Fine Gael’s response was to say that ‘we are making progress in regard to homelessness’.

“At that time, in October 2019, there were 3,826 homeless children living in emergency accommodation.

“That photograph, and the swell of public outrage, should have marked a tipping point. Instead, things have spiralled out of control.”

She noted that average rents are now over €2,000, while an income of over €100,000 is needed to buy a starter home, according to official figures.

“But this is the legacy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government.

“Their track record on housing and homelessness is shameful, it is a record that should be hung around their necks.”

Her colleague, Cork TD Thomas Gould, said the milestone represented a dark and shameful day for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“More than 5,000 children have returned to school this week from homeless accommodation. Alone, they could fill 222 classrooms, filled with trauma, fear and insecurity. These children will go to our schools this week to learn about their history,” he said.

“They will learn about the men and women who established the first Dáil. These men and women laid out clearly that their first duty, the first duty of our parliament, was to ensure that ‘no child shall suffer’ from lack of ‘shelter’.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed these children and disgraced the memory of those who laid down their lives for this island.”