BY CIARAN WOODS

ONE CHILD in three in Strabane is living in poverty, amongst the highest level in the whole of the North.

That's the shocking revelation as new figures were released this week, which show the Council areas of Strabane and neighbours Omagh as having child poverty rates of up to 35%, according to government figures.

Save the Children says that we are now entering a critical phase in the battle against child poverty. Its new report - A 2020 Vision - states that 35,000 young people will have to be rescued from poverty here if the government is to meet the target of halving child poverty by 2010.

But the restoration of the Assembly, coupled with the main parties' commitment to tackling the issue, has created positive conditions for progress, it said.

Mustafa Ben Hassine is a social worker in Strabane, and points to Strabane's economic plight and jobs situation as a key factor behind the high level of child poverty in Strabane.

The plight of children in Strabane may be different to those we traditionally associate with poverty, but he reveals that things can often be just as bleak for children here, and has called for local enterprise which is more family-orientated.

"Living in poverty in Strabane is very different to living say in Ethiopia or in some other parts of Africa. The concept of poverty here is in a Western European sense, as opposed to comparing to a Third World country.

"The problems these children face are different, but that doesn't mean they're any less important. It's also unclear as to how poverty has been measured. I suppose here it's about access to services and facilities, like leisure services and education, as well as the ability to have material goods such as clothes, food and other objects.

"It's a long-term problem, stretching back to the likes of the 80's, when things were especially bleak in Strabane. Even now, support services for families are not what they should be.

"It's often a vicious circle, where the parents have been born into a situation with very few prospects.

"Their children are born into a similar situation, where money is very tight for example, and it's very hard to break out of that. We have to bear in mind how things have been here in the past, it's not a new phenomenon but comes from years of neglect which impacts negatively on children.

"At the Family Centre we deal with a range of families from all sorts of backgrounds, and you can see that there has been a lack of investment in the area, with more family-friendly jobs needed. By that, I mean more sustainable employment which has in mind the needs of families. Places like call centres are not geared towards family life, with shift work and no provision for childcare, so they're not necessarily the sort of jobs that encourage good family life," he said.

In the recent study, Save the Children researchers Alex Tennant and Marina Monteith found that poverty affected all aspects of children's lives and has a devastating impact on their health and education as well as limiting their life chances.

Save the Children has called on Ian Paisley, and Martin McGuinness, to make the eradication of child poverty one of the key priorities of the new Executive.

'Lifetime Opportunities' - the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty and Social Inclusion Strategy which was introduced in November 2006 by Peter Hain, the then Secretary of State - commits to halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020.

Alex said, "Alongside the research statistics, we also created an animated figure called 'Kathy' who gives readers a heart-breaking insight into what living in poverty really means. She gives up her piggy-bank money so her mum can buy milk and relies on a hot-water bottle for warmth because her family can't afford to turn on the heating.

"Kathy is a made-up character, but her experiences and stories are real - for thousands of children across the North. More than 100,000 children are living in poverty according to government statistics – that's one in four."

At a Save the Children briefing of MLAs this week at Stormont, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said "Working alongside and listening to organisations such as Save the Children is very important in understanding issues like child poverty and this report, together with our own research, will help ministers to focus on both the extent of the problem and what needs to be done."