Poverty in Ireland - Living life on the edge

THOUGH they are two years out of date, and certainly overly optimistic because of that, EU figures on the financial stability of 40% of Irish households should give us all pause for thought.

The EU tells us that, in 2007, an unexpected bill of €900 would force two-out-of-five households to defer payment of other bills or to borrow money.

Our 40% figure is the highest in western Europe. The figure averages out at 34% across the 27 EU states.