Almost 30 per cent of households at risk of poverty are headed by a person with a job, it emerged yesterday. CORI (Conference of Religious of Ireland) Justice warned that up to three quarters of a million people in Ireland have incomes below the poverty line.
The religious organisation said the Government's failure to address the issue was a serious indictment of how the resources were used during the booming Celtic Tiger years.
In its annual socio-economic review, the policy watchdog challenged politicians and policy-makers to tackle poverty, especially among the working poor.
CORI's most damning finding in its annual socio-economic review is that during the good spend-spend times, only 120,000 people managed to escape the poverty trap.
Figures released yesterday show that almost 750,000 Irish people -- almost one in five of the country's total population -- have incomes below the standard poverty-line of €11,400 for a single person and €26,400 for a household of four.
While acknowledging that this is a welcome improvement from seven years ago when 21.9 per cent of the population was at risk of poverty, CORI's director, Fr Seán Healy, said: "The failure by Government to address the issue of poverty is a serious indictment of how the resources available throughout the Celtic Tiger years were used."
"After a period of great national prosperity, it is clear that many have benefited little from the boom times."
The Cork-born priest pointed out that a social blackspot in the economy is that almost 30 per cent of all households remain at risk of poverty, even though they are headed by a person with a job. These are the "working poor".
A further alarming figure reveals that 50 per cent of all households at risk of poverty are headed by the elderly, the disabled, those too ill to work or those in caring roles that prevent them from taking up a job.
Equally worrying is the fact that less than 15 per cent of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person who is unemployed, and more than 20pc of all children in Ireland are at risk of poverty.
The review, entitled Planning for Progress and Fairness, argued that despite the huge economic growth in recent years, Ireland is a long way from being a society characterised by fairness, equality and well-being.
CORI Justice maintains that to tackle income poverty, the Government should change the tax system and increase social welfare and child benefit payment rates.
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