Poverty Data

Deputy Willie O'Dea

I raise this question to ascertain what progress the Government has made in reducing the levels of poverty after social transfers.

Taking the measure of income inequality used internationally by economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, the Gini coefficient, Ireland does extremely well. Ireland has a level of inequality that is below the average in the European Union and the 28 OECD countries, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. In other words, we have less inequality in Ireland, notwithstanding the biggest economic crash in our history, than the average of European Union and OECD countries. It is far below that of the United States. According to EUROSTAT, the Gini coefficient was 30 in Ireland in 2013, compared with a European average of 30.5. This is a reflection of both our highly progressive tax system and the strength and depth of Ireland’s social protection system.

Relative poverty is measured through the at risk of poverty indicator. EUROSTAT data indicates that Ireland’s at risk of poverty rate in 2013, the last figures we have from the survey on income and living conditions, SILC, and which was based on data from the height of the crisis in 2012, was 14.1%. That is better than the EU average, where the proportion at risk of poverty is 16.6%. Ireland has the seventh lowest at risk of poverty rate of the 28 EU member states. A key reason for Ireland’s low at risk of poverty rate is social transfers. In 2013, social transfers, excluding pensions, lifted almost a quarter of the population out of relative income poverty. Ireland is the best-performing EU member state in reducing poverty through social transfers, and this reflects the Government decision not to reduce core welfare rates as part of the troika programme.

Looking forward, I believe that growing employment and supporting people back to work will have the greatest impact on poverty. The Government’s twin employment strategies of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work are reaping rewards as Ireland’s recovery continues to strengthen, with more than 110,000 additional people returning to work and unemployment falling by a third. We have much to do in this area but we are just behind the likes of Austria, Sweden and Denmark. That we have the seventh lowest level of inequality in the EU is a very important achievement.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

I did not ask the Minister about inequality or whether we were 0.5% percent above the OECD average. I am asking the Minister about levels of poverty in this country. I accept the latest figures are 18 months to two years out of date but they were produced by the Central Statistics Office, CSO. They indicate that 376,000 people in this country, or 8.2%, were living in consistent poverty, and although the poverty line had fallen by 16%, nearly one in seven people was at risk of poverty. The data also demonstrate that over 30% of the population was experiencing deprivation, meaning they were deprived of the basic essentials of life, such as a warm winter coat or adequate heating. I realise the CSO figures are somewhat out of date but has the Minister any measurement on progress made since the period relating to those published figures?

Deputy Joan Burton

We can be clear about the figures. The OECD report of 15 September is in the Dáil library and contains Ireland's ratings. It indicates that we rate really well, particularly given the incredibly destroyed economy that Fianna Fáil left us, together with the figure when we entered office of 330,000 people without work. The biggest element in poverty is people, particularly of working age, not having access to a paid job at a reasonable rate of pay for a reasonable number of hours. That causes more poverty than anything else. I am happy to say we now have 130,000 extra jobs since the Government came to office.

The at risk of poverty rate fell from 16.5% in 2012 to 15.2% in 2013. Using EUROSTAT data, Ireland's at risk of poverty rate of 14.1% was well below the EU average of 16.6% in 2013. I do not have later data than that with respect to national statistics. That is done by the CSO, based on a very wide range of interviews of significant numbers of people.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

From my interaction with constituents, which I maintain on a pretty regular basis, it does not seem that people are very much interested in history. They want to know what the Tánaiste, as leader of the so-called socialist party in Government, has done to combat poverty levels in this country. The latest CSO figures indicate that in rural Ireland - forgotten Ireland - 350,000 people were at risk of poverty. That means the last time poverty risk was measured in rural Ireland, 350,000 people were living on incomes of less than €10,500 per annum. The study also demonstrated that in rural Ireland, 560,000 people were without facilities that would be considered reasonable and normal in a decent society, such as the ability to go out for a night, heat their houses adequately and replace worn-out furniture, etc.

On 25 September 2012, exactly four years ago - the Government has been in office for that period - the Minister told me that the poverty targets were revised as one of the first actions of the Government. One revised target was to reduce consistent poverty to 4% by 2016. The latest figures for this indicate it is at 8.2%, although they are a bit out of date. Does the Minister believe it is a realistic ambition to achieve that target of a 4% level of consistent poverty by 2016, which is just a few months away?

Poverty Data

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Questions (4)

Willie O'Dea

Oral answers (63 contributions)