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Cliff Edge Coalition welcomes Opposition Day motion on addressing poverty in Northern Ireland

The Cliff Edge Coalition has welcomed news that the second Opposition Day in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday 16 April will focus on how to address the causes of poverty and combat its effects.

The Coalition is particularly encouraged to see the motion on ending the two-child limit in Northern Ireland – a policy which restricts social security support for families with more than two children and has been a key contributor to the rising rates of child poverty in Northern Ireland.

With recent statistics all pointing to increasing rates of poverty across Northern Ireland, the Cliff Edge Coalition is urging Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to come together and support this motion to remove a policy which has plunged so many families into poverty.

Siobhán Harding from the Women’s Support Network and a spokesperson for the Cliff Edge Coalition, said:

“Poverty is blighting the lives of thousands of people in Northern Ireland and there has never been a more urgent need to address its causes and effects. The Cliff Edge Coalition is clear that removal of the two-child limit is a good place to start. One in ten children in Northern Ireland are affected by the policy and those numbers will only continue to rise if action is not taken immediately. We strongly urge our MLAs to act now and support this motion which hopefully will mark the beginning of the end of the two-child limit policy in Northern Ireland.”

  • You can access the Cliff Edge Coalition’s briefing on the two-child limit here.
  • The Cliff Edge Coalition is a group of over 105 organisations throughout Northern Ireland who are campaigning for urgent measures to strengthen the current social security system in Northern Ireland.
  • Alongside removing the five-week wait in Universal Credit and providing support for private renters affected by the Local Housing Allowance freeze, scrapping the two-child limit is one of the Coalition’s three key asks which would help to tackle the growing numbers of people living in poverty here. You can read more about the Cliff Edge Coalition and its three key asks here.