Report: One in five children living below poverty line

A new report has revealed that almost one in five Irish children is living below the poverty line.

The paper by Social Justice Ireland (SJI) found that children represent a quarter of Ireland's poor.

According to the latest available figures from 2012, almost half of the population would be living in poverty without social welfare payments.

One in six of those living below the poverty line were found to be in employment.

SJI has made a number of recommendations to protect those most vulnerable to poverty including: equity of social welfare, adequate rates for children and a universal state pension.

The report also called for refundable tax credits and the introduction of a cost of disability payment.

Ireland's top 10 percent of households received 24 percent of the State's disposable income, while the bottom 10 percent received just three percent.

The report estimated that 120,000 more people are living below the poverty line than at the beginning of the recession and there are now more than 750,000 people who are deemed to be poor in Ireland.

The deprivation rate, which is used to measure the amount of people who go without at least two of the 11 basic necessities, has more than doubled since 2007 according to the paper.

For more than half of those who are poor, jobs are not the key means of reducing poverty as they are not connected to the labour market such as; the retired, disabled or students.

SJI said the Government should commit to retraining and activation measures for the long-term unemployed.

The report also called for an increase of €5 in core social welfare payments to reduce stress on Ireland's poorest households.