NI government strategy 'essential' to tackle child poverty

A paediatrician in west Belfast has said a government strategy is “essential” to tackle child poverty in Northern Ireland.

Dr Julie-Ann Maney told BBC NI’s The View: "Every day in the emergency department in the Children’s Hospital in Belfast we see the effects of poverty.”

“We have seen little 14-month-old infants here who are so hungry when you offer them toast and milk they stuff toast into their nappies,” she said.

Dr Maney was interviewed for The View after writing an article on the issue., external

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said the minister had recently announced the extension of the 2016/19 Poverty Strategy to May 2022.

It said the extension of the strategy “will allow time for engagement on how to address child poverty in the longer term”.

Watch the full interview on The View here on BBC iPlayer.