A quarter of parents in Northern Ireland struggle to provide enough food for their children, according to new research.
Barnardo’s NI also says a majority of households with children (51%) have had to reduce their spending on food in the last year to save money.
The charity said it is “totally unacceptable that in 2024, children in Northern Ireland are still growing up in poverty” and is calling on Stormont to “take urgent action to end child poverty”.
New research published by the charity reveals a quarter of parents (26%) with children aged 18 and under struggled to provide sufficient food over the past 12 months.
It says “one in four children in Northern Ireland are growing up in poverty”, which can mean getting by without being able to put the lights or heating on or having hot meals.
It also means worrying about where the next meal will come from and what the future holds.
A single father-of-five, named only as David from Belfast, has been helped by Barnardo’s NI early intervention family support service after struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills.
“I have worked all my life, but when my kids came to live with me, I had to come out of work to look after them,” he said.
“They were tough times.
“Food was a big concern for us. I often thought, where is the next meal coming from?
“My mum used to empty her fridge for us when we went round.
“I’m diabetic and I have seen myself go a day, maybe two days without eating, just to make sure my kids had enough.
“I was sceptical about going into food banks in case people seen me, but the help they have given us is unbelievable.”
He said the support of Barnardo’s NI and food banks had been a ”godsend”.
“These people helped me with everything and without them I don’t know where I would be today,” he said.
Trása Canavan from Barnardo’s NI said: “Sadly, our new research that shows parents are struggling to feed their children, has not come as a surprise.
“We know that there are thousands of families across the country who can’t afford to put enough food on the table or keep the electricity meter topped up.
“It is totally unacceptable that in 2024, children in Northern Ireland are still growing up in poverty and that so many of them will spend this winter feeling cold, hungry and left out.
“We can’t keep mitigating the impacts of poverty, by setting up food banks and breakfast clubs for children.
“We need to make sure they don’t need those food banks or breakfast clubs in the first place.
“We need to address the root causes of poverty and not just the symptoms.”
She added: “We’re calling on the NI government to take urgent action to end child poverty, starting with the delivery of a meaningful and robust anti-poverty strategy and we’re urging Westminster to end the two-child limit on universal credit, which disproportionately affects families in Northern Ireland”.
