Clear evidence about the extent of poverty in this State is contained in the first comparative EU survey on income and living conditions, published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. It shows that 9.4 per cent of the populations is consistently poor and 23 per cent are at risk of poverty.
Those living alone, in receipt of social transfers, members of lone-parent families, the unemployed, the ill and the disabled are particularly vulnerable.
This evidence will make it easier to formulate policy intended to tackle such poverty, as the Minister for Social Affairs, Mr Brennan, recognised yesterday. He was especially concerned that 15 per cent of children under the age of 15 are consistently poor and suggested that a supplementary child benefit payment could be aimed at them. Similar family income supplements could be directed towards single-parent families. Given this State's comparative wealth and the Government's formal commitment to social cohesion and equality, it is essential that such policies be vigorously pursued.
These are welcome responses from the Minister, even if they do not remove the issue of poverty from political and methodological controversy. Mr Brennan says it is difficult to understand how a previous survey in 2001 identified 5 per cent of the population as persistently poor whereas this one finds the figure nearly double that, despite increases in wealth and welfare payments since then. His political critics point to widening inequalities in this prosperous society, which devotes much less of its resources to social transfers and protection than fellow EU member-states - notwithstanding the acknowledged role full employment plays in reducing poverty.
This is the first survey of income and living standards to be conducted on a comparative basis in all EU member-states. The decision to do this was taken at a summit in December 2001 in order to monitor social inclusion and exclusion using 18 common statistical indicators and eight definitions of basic deprivation, such as the ability to afford clothing, food and heating. In time this will allow systematic comparison between all the member-states. It will also be used to implement the National Anti-Poverty Strategy set up in 1997.
These findings combine absolute and relative measures of poverty, as befits a programme intended to alleviate its direct effects and combat the exclusion of certain groups from social participation. They can help to put social policy on a more accurate and informed footing. Their methodological sophistication should help to minimise political point-scoring about how to measure poverty and concentrate attention on tackling it.