“Over the coming years, we will continue to advocate to ensure that measures to tackle poverty are a key priority” – SVP.

Children are living in households which are going 24 hours without a substantial meal, or being cold because parents are unable to afford to heat the home.

SJI warns that 18 percent of adults living in poverty in Ireland are employed - the “working poor”.

Social Justice Ireland warns that the number of people with jobs who are in poverty (the ‘working poor’) remains at very high levels.

“A Budget of missed opportunities” which widens the rich-poor gap.

Numbers living in poverty have increased by 120,000 since beginning of the recession, Social Justice Ireland highlights.