Vol. 525 No. 4
29 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the criticism by an organisation (details supplied) that current measurements of poverty here are outdated; the plans he has to put in place a new measurement of poverty line with those used by the United Nations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24941/00]
I expect that the Deputy is referring to the document Poverty and Social Welfare prepared by the Conference of Religious in Ireland in advance of budget 2001, which criticised the use of the consistent poverty measure.
As the Deputy is aware, the national anti-poverty strategy set out a number of goals to be achieved over a ten year period from 1997 to 2007, including targets in relation to income adequacy. Chief among the strategy's objectives was a reduction in the numbers living in consistent poverty from 9% to 15% of the population, in 1994, to less than 5% to 10% of the population by the year 2007. The latest data available, in respect of 1998, shows that 6% to 8% of the population are living in consistent poverty, so we are well on our way to achieving our revised target of below 5% by 2004.
There is no single best way to measure poverty. No one method can provide all the answers. The document referred to by the Deputy recognises that income alone does not tell the whole story concerning living standards and command over resources, and that it is necessary to look more broadly at a person's exclusion from the life of society because of lack of resources. This is particularly the case in trying to capture trends in poverty in a situation of very rapid growth in average incomes such as we are currently experiencing in this country. Direct measures of deprivation provide a valuable and complementary source of information in measuring poverty and assessing poverty trends.
The NAPS poverty target defines consistent poverty as being below 50% to 60% of average household income and experiencing enforced basic deprivation. This, as the Deputy will know, is based on independent research from the ESRI. Eight basic items were identified by the Economic and Social Research Institute in its 1987 household survey, e.g. two pairs of strong shoes, a warm waterproof coat etc. These items are selected by the respondents themselves as basic necessities but which they are unable to afford.
The Economic and Social Research Institute, supported by my Department, keeps the deprivation index under regular review to ensure that it remains relevant to people's perception of necessities. The indicators were most recently examined in June 1999 in relation to the 1997 living in Ireland survey and an examination in relation to the 1998 living in Ireland survey will be completed by the end of this year.
