Poverty, income inequality and living standards in Ireland: Second annual report

Abstract

This report is the second from an ESRI research programme funded by The Community Foundation for Ireland, which seeks to address gaps in our knowledge and understanding of poverty, income inequality and living standards in Ireland. It builds on last year’s report, which found that while Ireland had experienced strong and progressive – if volatile – income growth over the past three decades (leaving income inequality in 2019 at its lowest recorded level), levels of income poverty and material deprivation have remained consistently high for certain groups (notably lone parents and those in working-age households where no one is in paid work). However, these findings – in keeping with almost all existing research on income inequality and poverty in Ireland – are based on measures of disposable income after direct taxes paid and benefits received but before housing costs. This report develops consistent new measures of after housing cost (AHC), income growth, inequality and poverty, which provide the following additional insights about the evolution and distribution of material living standards in Ireland.