Ireland - Government Failing Growing Numbers Of Working People At Risk Of Poverty

Tuesday 20 March, 2018 Written by Simon Collyer/Irish Times

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD, responding to a Social Justice Ireland report that shows more than 104,000 working people at risk of poverty, today said:

“The findings of the Poverty Focus 2018 report are very disturbing and show just how much this government is failing working people and their families.

“The government clearly has gotten its priorities entirely wrong when, in the midst of an economic recovery, such a substantial number of working people are struggling to get by financially.

“Workers are increasingly facing job insecurity, including low paid and precarious working conditions, bogus self-employment and the issue of two-tier pay scales in the public service. At the same time, childcare costs and a lack of affordable housing means that a greater chunk of people’s salaries are being spent on just getting by. It is abundantly clear from this report that workers' rights are not being prioritised by this government and policy-makers.”

Róisín Shortall

Image: Róisín Shortall TD.

One in six people in Ireland are living below the poverty line, while more than 100,000 people with jobs live in poverty, a new report has revealed.

The number of “working poor” – defined as people with jobs who are still in poverty0 – has continued to rise since 2009 despite economic recovery and growth, Social Justice Ireland said in its Poverty Focus 2018 report.

A total of 780,000 people live in poverty today and of these, more than a quarter are children. This means 16.5 per cent of the Irish population lives below the 60 per cent median income poverty line, the report said.

A person is defined as living in poverty if their income and resources are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living that is regarded as acceptable by Irish society. Any adult earning €249.55 a week or less, or €13,022 or less annually, is counted as being at risk of poverty.

Female workers; young workers; those in retail, hotels and security sectors; single parents and those on temporary contracts, are most likely to be on low pay.

More than 14 per cent of people on home duties (including care for children or the elderly) live in poverty while 13.3 per cent of people in employment also face poverty.

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