160,000 children in Ireland are at risk of poverty across Ireland.
That's according to The Children's Rights Alliance who expressed deep concern children and young people continue to bear the weight of poverty.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal 24,000 young people were lifted out of poverty in 2020.
However the Alliance says when Covid payments are taken away half of one parent families are experiencing deprivation and one in five children are at risk of poverty.
Chief Executive Tanya Ward is warning the situation is becoming intolerable for some families:
"What's happening for a lot of families in this situation is, they're not switching on the heating, or they're deciding to scrimp on the food bill, or a lot of parents actually often go without food and they try to feed their children. It's a very difficult situation for a big proportion of the population to be quite honest with you. It's very hard to live like that day in, day out, trying to make the pennies stretch".
