The Government was warned yesterday against selecting specific counties for priority help under the next round of EU structural funds.
"Poverty and social exclusion are found throughout every county in the country," the director of the Combat Poverty Agency, Mr Hugh Frazer, told a seminar in Dublin.
The agency, he said, was "concerned about current thinking which advocates that Objective One status for the next round of EU structural funding, for 2000 to 2006, should be given to selected counties only.
"We strongly advise the Government that structural fund expenditure which will tackle poverty and social exclusion is needed in all regions of the country."
Poverty knew no boundaries in Ireland, he told a seminar on identifying where the poor live. "Research has shown that it is as likely to occur in a small provincial town as in inner-city areas.
"Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty should be a key element in the National Development Plan and poverty should be tackled nationwide," he declared.
Prof Chris Whelan, of the Economic and Social Research Institute, told the seminar: "While it is true that many poor people live in recognised areas of disadvantage, our research has also shown that most poor people do not live in very poor areas.
"If strategies to tackle poverty are targeted at specific areas only, they will not reach the majority of people they are designed to reach."
Ms Anna Lee, chairwoman of Combat Poverty, said households in local authority housing made up about 50 per cent of those living in poverty in both 1987 and 1994, years when Irish national household surveys were carried out.
This also meant that half of the State's poor households were located outside public sector housing, she added.
She blamed national housing policies for contributing significantly to concentrations of poverty in many areas.