More than 5% of Irish living in poverty in 2007

MORE than 5% of the Irish population were living in consistent poverty in 2007.

That figure rose to over 15% among the country’s disabled, however, where one in six found themselves living with consistent poverty.

According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office, the number of people in consistent poverty had, however, dropped from 6.9% in 2006 to 5.1% just a year later.

However, on a less positive note 7.5% of children under 15 years were experiencing the ongoing problem.

Overall, the percentage of gross domestic product that Ireland spent on social protection between 1997-2006 was lower than any of the other EU-15 and EU-25 member states.

In this country, expenditure in that area dropped from 16.4% of GDP in 1997 to 13.9% in 2000 but increased over the following years to stand at 18.2% by 2006.

The CSO also looked at the gender pay gap and found that male employees were paid 17% more than their female counterparts.

Ireland appeared to come ‘mid-table’ in that regard with the gender pay gap lying at just 4% in Italy and 5% in Malta, but at 26% in Austria and 30% in Estonia.

Another area examined by the CSO was voter turnout. It found that while 76% of the voting public turned out for elections in the 1970s, that dropped to just 63% in 2002.

However, people appeared to regain their appetite for politics somewhat in 2006 when the turnout rose to 67%.