50,000 extra people living in poverty

Almost 50,000 more people are living in consistent poverty than were previously thought, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute.

The increase derives from an updated way of measuring poverty developed by the ESRI to replace its existing 20-year old definition of deprivation.

The old definition took into account people's income as well as their ability to afford basic items such as strong shoes, a waterproof coat or weekly roast in assessing whether they were suffering consistent poverty.

The new definition retains these measures and adds five further benchmarks of exclusion, such as an inability to afford presents or a regular night out.

However, it excludes two measures used up to now: "going into debt to meet ordinary living expenses" and "going without a substantial meal due to lack of money". In addition, low earners now have to "qualify" under two headings, rather than one as before, to be considered as living in consistent poverty.

As a result of the changes, the number of those classified as living in consistent poverty (and earning less than 60 per cent of median income) has grown overnight from 6.8 per cent, or 270,000, to 8 per cent, or almost 320,000. The figures, the latest available, relate to 2003.

Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan, who launched the ESRI's new report, responded to the increase by highlighting the overall drop in poverty during the lifetime of the present Government. Mr Brennan claimed at least 250,000 people had been lifted out of deprivation during the past decade.

"Whatever the real numbers it is clear that there is a task that is extremely urgent and important.

"That is why our focus must be on targeted welfare supports and services so that real poverty, which has no place in the Ireland of the 21st century, can be finally eliminated."

Social welfare payments had increased by one-third in real terms over the past five years, he said, and unemployment had halved since 1997.

Prof Christopher Whelan, one of the authors of the ESRI report, said the new definition provided a sharper picture of those in consistent poverty. The groups most at risk were single adults with children, households with a large number of children, those lacking education qualifications, the unemployed, and the sick and disabled. Priority in reducing poverty should be given to increasing incomes, he suggested.

The issue of how poverty is measured is highly controversial. While most other EU states focus on relative poverty - which, in the case of Ireland's boom economy, would produce higher poverty figures - the Government and the ESRI prefer the more evolved definition of consistent poverty.

Measures of relative poverty are questioned nearly everywhere, especially during periods of growth or recession, Prof Whelan said. "If you want to believe the poverty rate in Latvia is the same as in Ireland you can, but you'd have difficulty persuading people."

The Society of St Vincent de Paul expressed concern about the removal of the debt benchmark as part of the definition of poverty. "There's a danger that indebtedness might be regarded as less of a problem when it's still a big issue," said John Mark McCafferty.

Labour Party spokesman on social affairs Willie Penrose described the report as a "wake-up call" for the Government and the clearest indication of the need for targeted measures to assist those living in poverty.

"Week after week Government Ministers tell us that we are living in the most successful economy in Europe, yet this report shows in a very stark way that there are close to 400,000 who are effectively being left behind."