In light of stubbornly high poverty levels in Northern Ireland that also affect nearly a quarter of children, a leading evangelical body highlighted the significant contributions churches make to addressing poverty in the communities but called on political leaders to prioritize the issue and take action to address root causes.
A Department for Communities report entitled ‘The Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report 2022-23 published on March 27 (2024) estimated the percentage and number of people of all ages living in poverty in the principality from April 2022 to March 2023.
The report found a four percent increase in people living in relative poverty, with a total of 349,000 people (18%) in 2022 to 2023 compared to 271,000 (14%) the year before. At the same time, a significant increase in children for the province has seen 24 percent living in relative poverty in 2022 to 2023, compared to 18 percent the previous year. Youngsters in absolute poverty rose from 15 per cent to 19 percent during the same period.
Before the recent British General Election, the Evangelical Alliance (EA) in Northern Ireland publicly called on political leaders to address the poverty issue in terms of policies and implementation.
Following up post-election, Christian Daily International approached the evangelical body to ask about the financial difficulties many people living in Northern Ireland are facing, and what could be done to address the pressing needs.
Danielle McElhinney, the EA's public policy officer, said the causes of poverty in the country, as with the rest of the UK, were complex and affected “by politics, culture and history in this place.”
She explained that the political focus has been on societal peace and reconciliation since the Good Friday Agreement. Unfortunately, however, this came “at the expense of addressing poverty”.
“This journey has been wrought with frustration and a stop/start approach to local government,” McElhinney said. “All other political priorities have had to take somewhat of a back seat to the pressing issue of opposing parties struggling to govern together in a cross-party Executive.
“This means that the poverty strategy we were promised 25-plus years ago has still not been delivered.”
Policy makers in the Executive must adhere to a statutory obligation under Section 28E of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to “adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation based on objective need”.
McElhinney referred to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report for 2024, which said that poverty levels generally across all of the UK are “unacceptably high.” The report asserted that it has been 20 years “and six prime ministers” since the “last prolonged period of falling poverty.”
“The overall level of poverty has barely moved since Conservative-led governments took power in 2010,” stated the report, referring to the overall situation across the UK.
McElhinney wants political leaders to create a “coherent plan with creative policies” to end poverty in the UK, as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says. She is the EA representative at the Coalition of Christian Voices Against Poverty, launched in January this year. The coalition has called upon provincial political leaders to work with Westminster on creating a plan to stop poverty and give funding to implement poverty reduction strategies for Northern Ireland.
“It will require a long term, cross departmental approach with policies that tackle issues like housing, mental health, the welfare system, training and jobs,” said McElhinney. “A great starting place would be the delivery of the poverty strategy that we have been waiting so long for.”
Churches and faith-based organizations were already doing “incredible work” in Northern Ireland, according to McElhinney. She said churches faithfully served local communities and filled gaps “that the welfare system is not meeting.”
These efforts include the provision of foodbanks, with 19 out of 23 within the Trussell Trust network based in churches. There are also social supermarkets, warm spaces and connection points for lonely people to receive support, alongside emotional wellbeing services.
McElhinney said that many churches were stretched to capacity “and beyond” with resources, finances, volunteers and space needed to facilitate community services.
“So, it feels unfair to ask churches to ‘help more’. Instead, I would encourage churches to become advocates for the people in their communities, to become engaged in public conversations about poverty and call on the local government to make tackling poverty a political priority,” she said.
Meanwhile, she encourages evangelicals to pray about the pressing poverty needs in Northern Ireland. Families and lone individuals experiencing financial woes need such prayer support.
“Let us remember that behind every statistic is a story of real people struggling to put food on the table, to heat their homes or to put petrol in the tank of the car,” McElhinney reminded. “Pray for practical help to reach their door that will give them hope for the future.”
McElhinney also asked for prayer for churches serving communities. For God to give them strength and resources to continue and a deepening compassion for neighbors in need. Prayers are also needed for politicians to “prioritize tackling poverty in the next programme for government and deliver the long-awaited poverty strategy.”
