Rich-poor income gap stable for decades

The gap between the income of the rich and the poor has remained stable despite 30 years of highs and lows in the Irish economy.

This Irish experience is very different to what has happened in many other countries, where as much as 40% of the population at the lower end of the spectrum has benefited little from economic growth.

This is according to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which marked 50 years of social research with a conference yesterday.