As the screw turns, rural households are first in line to be pushed below — or further below — the poverty line.

As the austerity screw turns, the danger of rifts in society increases.

Some households rely on child welfare payments for up to 67% of the cost of rearing a child, according to a new research.

IRELAND ranks as the fourth most socially unjust country in the developed world, according to the results of research by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, and Trinity College.

While Michael Noonan, the finance minister, was getting plaudits from EU peers in the ungainly pink granite building off Schuman, down the road the true cost of Ireland’s austerity measures was being spelled out to MEPs by Michael McCabe of Independent Living.

People who rely on social welfare or earn the minimum wage are living on incomes which often fall far below what is considered necessary for an acceptable life, a new report has found.

RECESSION looks set to take a bigger toll on rural life.

LIVING costs for couples, ageing citizens and single parents are significantly higher in rural areas compared with urban locations, because of higher food and transport prices, according to a report.

PROFESSOR John FitzGerald of the ESRI and a number of other economic commentators have suggested recently that the Government should examine the fairness of exempting the state pension from cuts in the forthcoming budget. They use the argument that it was spared in recent budgets, so it should be in the firing line in December.

TWO faces of Ireland were glimpsed yesterday in contrasting statements from opposite ends of the economic spectrum.

The majority of households on social welfare or taking home the minimum wage are in risk of living in poverty, a disturbing report revealed today.

Special Olympics supremo Mary Davis is to head a new national citizenship task force to urge people to get involved in voluntary work in their communities.

Human dignity must be at the heart of the state’s treatment of immigrant workers as the country’s population heads towards 4.5 million, it was claimed today.

FAMILIES dependent on unemployment benefit and lone parent allowances do not have acceptable living budgets, according to a major study.

A new report has revealed the scale of the difficulties incurred by the two hundred and 70 thousand Irish people who live at risk of poverty.