Poverty likely for lone parents - ESRI

Lone parent households are up to 10 times more likely to be living in consistent poverty than other households, according to a study presented to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) today.

Exclusion from the labour market through unemployment, retirement or ill-health also massively increases a person's chances of ending up in poverty, the research by Chris Whelan of the UCD sociology department and Bertrand Maitre of the ESRI shows.

Poverty levels among those excluded from the labour market are over 25 times higher than among those at work, they found.

Being a lone parent greatly increases an Irish person's chances of ending up in poverty but the same is not the case in other European countries. In Finland, for example, the odds of a lone parent being in poverty are only slightly higher than for the wider population.

The two researchers say Ireland represents the "worst case scenario" in relation to outcomes for people in lone parent households, with the highest levels of consistent poverty of the seven countries included in the survey.

Last week, the Government announced plans to restrict lone parent benefits by stopping payment once the youngest child reaches 13. Under the current system, they are payable until the child reaches 18, or 22 if in full-time education.

Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins claimed yesterday the change was a recipe for driving thousands of families into further poverty.

At the ESRI seminar, Mr Whelan and Mr Maitre said Ireland does badly on European poverty league tables, but our rates were comparable to other countries when only working people or those "enjoying a favourable situation in relation to marital and parental circumstances" are considered.

"However, where labour market exclusion or lone parenthood is involved, Irish individuals find themselves at a substantial disadvantage," according to their paper. Improving Ireland's relative position on international poverty tables would require a reduction in the number of people excluded from the labour market and a reduction in the "negative consequences" associated with such exclusion and with lone parenthood.

"Since the former objective is unrealistic in the short to medium term, it becomes even more important to address the consequences of such exclusion and lone parenthood for poverty and social exclusion."

Less than 1 per cent of people in full-time employment were found to be below the poverty threshold, compared to 30 per cent of people where the person in the household was unemployed.

Pat Carey, Minister of State at the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, said the level of poverty among lone parents and the unemployed had improved significantly since 2006. The challenge was to maintain the progress made in recent years and to protect the most vulnerable in the economic downturn.

Mr Carey said the country was beginning to see the benefits of the "bold, imaginative and decisive" economic measures taken by the Government over the past 18 months.

Ireland's approach was now held up internationally as an example to others facing fiscal difficulties. "The success of our economic recovery will be judged by our capacity to emerge from our current problems as a more just, inclusive and equitable society."