Government criticised for setting ‘unrealistic’ poverty targets

The Government has been criticised for setting unrealistic targets for reducing poverty. The latest figures for those in consistent poverty are more than double the level at which the Government had been aiming.

In 2012 — at the height of the recession — the Government set a target of reducing consistent poverty from 6.3%, in 2010, to 4%, by 2016, and 2% or less by 2020.

According to Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty, data from the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) shows that consistent poverty rose sharply after 2010, to a peak of 9.1%, in 2013.