62,000 children in Northern Ireland face hunger and hardship. We need to turn words into action

Last week, in Stormont, I heard this said: “I rise not out of duty but out of a profound sense of sadness and quite a lot of anger that, in 2025, children in Northern Ireland still rely on food banks to survive…”

The MLA who spoke these words was Sian Mulholland of Alliance. She was introducing a motion which stated that the Assembly expresses ‘grave alarm’ that the number of emergency food parcels distributed by Trussell food banks to children in Northern Ireland increased by 90 per cent during the last five years and ‘is further alarmed’ that the proportion of emergency food parcels provided to children is higher in Northern Ireland than any other part of the UK.

The Assembly, she said, is also concerned by a recent report on child poverty from the Public Accounts Committee, which found that delivery of the Child Poverty Strategy has been ‘characterised by failure’ and recognises that an adequate standard of living is essential for children’s physical, social and developmental needs and calls on the Minister for Communities to urgently publish the new anti-poverty strategy.

The Assembly further calls on the Minister to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to create a progressive social security system that better supports families with children.

The motion was passed, but now is the time to go beyond words and to action.

In 2025, child poverty should not be an issue facing families in Northern Ireland. We may not be the richest part of the world but together we have overcome so many challenges, and I know that we will overcome this one – I just hope it’s not too late for the generation of children playing in our playgrounds today.

There are 200,000 people currently face hunger and hardship in Northern Ireland, including 62,000 children. Over the last five years emergency food distribution from Trussell foodbanks has soared a staggering 95% increase for adults and a 90% increase for children compared with just five years ago.

The Northern Ireland Audit Committee has estimated that the cost of tackling child poverty is costing the public purse between £850 million to £1 billion per year. This is a staggering amount of money, and it’s not even turning the tide on poverty – it’s merely putting on a sticking plaster so the problem can be kicked down the road.

Child poverty is not being treated as an outright priority by today's Department for Communities, nor has it been by any previous one. But the cost of inaction is high. Hunger is not a food problem, it is an income problem. That’s why, in the coming months, the Executive urgently needs to:

· Implement an evidence-based Anti-poverty strategy that specifically targets child poverty;

· Endorse the Essentials Guarantee campaign ensuring Westminster guarantees at a minimum, Universal Credit should protect people from going without the essentials;

· Scrap the 2-child limit to the child element of Universal Credit, and introduce a new weekly child payment to all children in poverty;

· Invest in reducing school uniform costs, increasing free school meal entitlements, and re-introducing holiday hunger payments;

· Invest in accessible, good quality childcare by increasing flexible and affordable high quality childcare, removing barriers to paid employment.

Investments in our children like these will not only improve lives but they’ll allow Northern Ireland to avoid paying higher public costs around education, physical and mental health, social care, justice, and will ultimately improve the economy later down the line.

When the Assembly begins the journey towards ending child poverty, they will begin a journey that changes the lives of children for the better. Growing up in poverty limits your chances and opportunities, and a failure to tackle child poverty early and effectively risks lifelong impacts to children’s health, education and general development.

As we all work together towards a better Northern Ireland, Trussell food banks will be there making sure that children and families who cannot afford the essentials – but food banks are not the answer and shouldn’t exist at all. We need long term change to make sure that in our lifetimes, the last food bank can close its doors for good.