Between 8 and 10 per cent of the population are living in consistent poverty, according to a new measure of deprivation devised by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
In a report entitled Reconfiguring the Measurement of Deprivation and Consistent Poverty in Ireland, published today, the ESRI says: "While those depending on social transfers make up a large proportion of the consistently poor, a significant minority of poor individuals are in households where the household head is in work."
Those most at risk from poverty are single adults with children, households with a large number of children, those lacking educational qualification, and the unemployed and the ill or disabled.
The report generates a new measure of deprivation based on 11 indicators from a recent Central Statistics Office survey - including the frequency with which people ate meat, whether they had at least two pairs of shoes and if they could adequately heat their house.
The measure also takes into account people's exposure to violence, environmental pollution and access to social life.
The previously-used item relating to being in debt to cover ordinary living expenses was dropped as it was deemed to have a disproportionate effect on the results
The measure of basic deprivation is then combined with a low-income threshold - set at 60 per cent and 70 per cent of median income - to produce a new definition of consistent poverty - updating the ESRI's previous measure developed in 1987.
The ESRI says the new measure provides a more comprehensive coverage of exclusion from family and social life.
The report finds a similar level of consistent poverty to previous ESRI surveys, which utilised less indicators but the institute says those identified as consistently poor are now more sharply differentiated from others.
The study proposed that priority be given - in the National Anti-Poverty Strategy - to ensuring that those on low incomes see their real incomes rise. It also suggested that the proportion of the population falling below relative income poverty lines should be declining.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Minister for Social Affairs, Séamus Brennan said that while the debate continued over the most accurate ways of measuring poverty levels it was important,that the rate of progress in recent years in tackling poverty was acknowledged as it reflected the significant inroads that anti-poverty strategies were having.
Mr Brennan said that less than a decade ago, in 1997, some 7.8 per cent, or 283,000 persons were in consistent poverty, as measured by the Living in Ireland Survey (LIIS).
"In 2001 the figure had reduced to 4.1 per cent, or 149,000 persons, a reduction of some 134,000 people, based on 1996 census figures," he said.
