Just over five percent of children in Ireland are living in abject poverty...with a further 160,000 at risk of poverty.
That's according to the Children's Rights Alliance, which's launching its annual child poverty monitor today.
It shows thousands are going without basic essentials, spending whole days in hotel rooms and trying to put a brave face on in front of friends.
Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, says the public needs to hear the scale of the problem:
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'That might mean, they could be going to bed hungry several times a week. September comes and they don't have a new pair of runners going to school. Its a stressful situation for children and they won't tell their parents when they need something. '
