One in five live on less than €185 per week

ALMOST one-in-five people in Ireland are at risk of poverty as they live on less than €185 per week.

That is according to the Combat Poverty Agency who yesterday advertised for photographers interested in providing snapshots depicting the extent of poverty in the country today.

It wants to use those photographs in its publicity material to bolster the organisation’s campaigns.

The agency quoted the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures from the annual Survey on Income and Living Conditions which surveyed the population in 2004.

It said one-in-five people are at risk of poverty in Ireland and 7% of people are deprived of basic items such as heating, proper meals, new clothes, strong shoes or waterproof coats because they cannot afford them.

It also said many people in poverty experience difficulty in paying day-to-day expenses and often get into a worse cycle of debt.

The organisation lists a number of factors which cause people to fall into the poverty bracket, factors which stop them from escaping that position, as well as the effects of living in poverty.

They want the images from photographers to portray those factors.

Other factors in the slide to poverty include lack of access to employment because of age, disability or caring duties. Also the factors which deter people from securing good jobs such as educational disadvantage and the effect of being poor, including worse health due to poorer living conditions and even a shorter life span.

In the latest issue of the Combat Poverty Agency’s journal, Action on Poverty Today, Helen Johnston, director of the agency, said there has been an increase in employment and a subsequent decline in unemployment since the 1980s through the Celtic Tiger.

“However, despite the positive developments over the last twenty years, there are still people in Ireland whose circumstances place them at risk of poverty — lone parents, people with disabilities, large families, people who are unemployed, some older people and some people in low-paid jobs,” she said.

“We must do more to totally eliminate the worst aspects and risks of poverty in our society.”

The extent of the poverty problem in Ireland was clearly illustrated when the Society of St Vincent de Paul revealed some weeks ago that it is preparing to spend a record amount on assisting families with gas and electricity bills this year, due to massive price rises.

Last year, the society paid out an estimated €3 million to help thousands of struggling households, though the charity predicts record offers of support this year.

Earlier this week, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, one of the country’s top social campaigners said the government was doing nothing to stop the trend in which poorer people now see themselves as “failures, non- productive and useless”, as wealth and economic success is so venerated in this country.

She said Ireland is one of the most unequal societies in the world.