The Combat Poverty agency has donated all of its records to the National Archives as it prepares to go out of business as part of government cutbacks.

Controversy continues to rage over the Government’s budgetary cuts. “Fairness must be the cornerstone of all our efforts to achieve economic renewal,” Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan declared on introducing the emergency budget in April. “Those who have most must give most.”

THE Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) has unveiled its final annual report before it is subsumed into a government department, with its chairman admitting there was “uncertainty” over the move.

The Combat Poverty Agency has expressed its opposition to any cut in social welfare rates, saying it would only create new problems further down the road.

OUR changed economy makes it inevitable that some people find themselves struggling with debts.

COMMUNITIES should play a greater role in designing and delivering healthcare services, the Combat Poverty Agency said yesterday.

Subsuming the Combat Poverty Agency into a Government department would destroy the watchdog’s independence and ability to carry out vital work, it was warned today.

TWENTY-SEVEN voluntary and community groups have rallied to the defence of the Combat Poverty Agency which is waiting to hear its fate after a ministerial review recommended it be scrapped as a cost-cutting measure.

The State’s poverty watchdog today launched a three-pronged approach to tackle social deprivation during worsening economic times.

THE board of Combat Poverty is to meet in an emergency session tomorrow to devise a survival plan amid further indications that the agency will be scrapped as a government cost-cutting measure.

High-earners should be taxed more to allow for a hike in welfare payments for low-income families, it was claimed today.

The Combat Poverty Agency says Ireland is underperforming when it comes to helping the country's poorest people.

A conference in Dublin today has been hearing conflicting views about the Government's record in tackling poverty.

Almost 290,000 people in Ireland- including 10% of all children – are living in poverty, it was revealed today.

THE medical card is one of the few perks available to people on the breadline.

More than a quarter of a million people at risk of poverty could not get a medical card because Government rules found they earned too much, it was claimed today.

Families living in poverty benefited financially in this year’s budget, it emerged today.

IMPROVED access to financial services could help people on low incomes to avoid the poverty trap.

A LOT more could have been done in the Budget to make a real difference to the lives of Ireland’s poorest children and pensioners, campaign groups claimed last night.

The Combat Poverty Agency is calling on the Government to introduce a British-style school-dinner scheme.

The Combat Poverty Agency is hosting a cross-border conference in Dublin today to discuss the links between poverty and poor health.

REPORTS, strategies and action plans on ways to reduce poverty prepared by the Government must be implemented if we are ever to really help the country’s poor, the Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) said yesterday.

SIPTU has warned it will not support any new national pay deal unless the decentralisation dispute at state agencies is resolved.

THE Government has been urged to do more to help Ireland’s young carers.

More than 250,000 men, women and children have been lifted out of the poverty trap in the last decade, a Government minister claimed today.

Around 375,000 people will die prematurely in Ireland due to food poverty, it was claimed today.

MEANINGFUL targets for reducing inequalities in healthcare must be set to prevent people in poverty becoming ill more often and dying early, a conference heard yesterday.

Meaningful targets for reducing inequalities in healthcare must be set to prevent people in poverty becoming ill more often and dying early, a conference heard today.

The Combat Poverty Agency has called for a nationwide system of waste-charge waivers for low-income families.

THE structural causes behind poverty must be urgently addressed in the upcoming social partnership discussions, it was warned yesterday.

SADLY, while some people have benefited handsomely from this country’s dizzy rise in the global league of developed nations, many others remain deeply mired in poverty.

THE Government has been accused of “watering down” promises on mixed housing as new research shows that the risk of poverty is more than five times greater for local authority tenants than for people living in private dwellings.

People living in local authority housing are five times more likely to face poverty than any other group and their situation is worsening, a survey by the Combat Poverty agency revealed today.

The Government's Combat Poverty Agency has called for a fairer distribution of wealth in order to address on-going poverty.

By Evelyn Ring

FREE markets are not the answer to all our problems.

The State advisory agency on poverty asked the Government today for an increase in social welfare rates and child income support.

The Combat Poverty Agency has called on the Government to increase social welfare rates in next month's Budget.

Environment Minister Dick Roche has called on local authorities to take the lead in tackling social exclusion in Ireland.

IRELAND’S increasing income gap is creating a very divided society, the Combat Poverty Agency warned yesterday.

Combat Poverty has said it is hoping for a flat rate increase of between €10 to €15 on social welfare payments in this year's Budget.

Keeping a sick child in hospital can cost families as much as €80 per day, according to a new study.

High rents in Ireland are putting people in the private rental accommodation sector at increased risk of poverty, according to the Combat Poverty agency.

ALMOST 170,000 children live in poverty, with one in 16 lacking basic necessities such as food, clothes and heating.