2011 CSO figures published today reveal rising levels of deprivation:
- 25% of the population in deprivation(up by a half in 2 years)
- A third of children living in deprivation
- Twice as many people at work (15%) in deprivation compared to 2009
- Lone parents and unemployed hardest hit
Robin Hanan, Director of the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN Ireland, commenting on these figures said:
“These figures confirm what our members are telling us from their work on the ground.
“A series of policies and cuts have made life harder for people on low incomes, making it more difficult to move into reasonably paid work.
“It has been Government policy for years to ‘poverty proof’ all policies, to make sure that they either reduce or at least don’t increase poverty. In practice, this has not been applied to most of the policies which affect the day to day lives of people living with poverty, such as the Budget, the Finance Bill and employment strategies
“We have the figures, we have the targets, now the Government, and the country, need to get serious about fighting poverty.
“These figures are shocking but not surprising.”