Research shows gap between Ireland’s poorest communities and non-deprived areas is growing

The index of deprivation in Ireland by Pobal is informed using Census 2022 data.

Ireland’s poorest communities remain “persistently disadvantaged”, and the gap between them and non-deprived areas is growing, stark new research has found.

Almost 200,000 people now live in areas classed as either very or extremely disadvantaged, with urban areas such as Cork and Dublin containing more of the extremes of highly disadvantaged or highly affluent areas.

The index of deprivation in Ireland by Pobal found that disadvantage in particular communities across the country is a “long-term and entrenched phenomenon” according to its CEO Anna Shakespeare.

Splitting the country into 19,000 small areas, it analysed each area's level of disadvantage which is based on 10 metrics including educational attainment, employment status, and the number living in individual households. Last year’s index is informed using Census 2022 data.

It found that, nationwide, there have been improvements in the majority of communities bringing Ireland back to Celtic Tiger 2006 levels.

However, many areas already disadvantaged have not seen these same levels of improvement and this has brought them further away from the average in areas such as employment and population growth.

The number of people living in areas classed as very or extremely disadvantaged increased from 143,506 people in 2016 to 195,992 in 2022.

Those in disadvantaged communities “experience significantly higher levels of unemployment and low educational attainment, with higher rates of lone parents evident,” Pobal said.

Urban areas are those with the highest proportion of both highly disadvantaged and affluent areas. In Cork, areas of the northside such as Knocknaheeny, Mayfield, and parts of Gurranabraher were described as “extremely disadvantaged”.

In Mayfield, it said that the lone parent ratio in 2022 was 61% while the unemployment rate among males was 27%. This contrasted with “affluent” Ballinlough on the south side which had an unemployment rate for men of just 3.2% and a lone parent rate of 6%.

Society of St Vincent de Paul head of social justice Dr Tricia Keilthy said the data raises concerns that there are “huge cohorts of people left behind during the economic recovery” in Ireland.

“Two things may explain why we have communities falling so far behind,” she said. “Our local Government aren’t empowered to do more anti-poverty action plans at a local level, unlike our European counterparts. And a lot of the cuts made to community development services during austerity were not restored."

Karen Kiernan, CEO of charity One Family, said Pobal’s findings “bear out what we say in our work on a day-to-day basis”.

“Many of the families we work with are absolutely struggling, day-to-day, week-to-week,” she said. “They were always left behind as communities, and as families, and the cost-of-living crisis has made it much worse.” 

Ms Kiernan, who heads the charity supporting one-parent families, said the research is useful in that it shows us exactly where the communities that need support are.

“The gap between those who have and have not is growing,” she said. “It’s not the Ireland any of us want.”