Tax and welfare policy in future needs to be "more balanced towards the less well-off", according to the director of the Combat Poverty Agency, Ms Helen Johnston.
Publishing the agency's annual report for 2001 yesterday, she said "important advances" had been made in tackling poverty and social exclusion in recent years.
This was illustrated by a drop in consistent poverty - which measures the proportion of people earning less than 60 per cent of the average disposable income, and who don't have basic household items - from 15 per cent to 6 per cent between 1994 and 2000.
But relative income poverty - which measures the proportion of the population falling below a certain income level - rose from 16 per cent to 22 per cent in the same period.
Ms Johnston said: "The ultimate elimination of consistent poverty requires that the proportion of people falling below relative income poverty lines, particularly for a sustained period, should also be falling. Recently, this is not the case."
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, played down the significance of this finding, however. She said the relative income indicator was more about inequality than poverty.
"I won't disregard any indicators in the context of poverty but at the same time what I have said is that consistent poverty is a more accurate reflection of a poverty indicator."
Speaking at her first public function as Minister, Ms Coughlan said tackling poverty, unemployment and exclusion were "cornerstones of the Government's economic and social policies".
Among the commitments made under the National Anti-Poverty Strategy were the reduction in consistent poverty to below 2 per cent, and an increase in the lowest social welfare rates to €150 a week by 2007.
The Minister added: "In these times of increased economic uncertainty it will be difficult to continue to make such dramatic progress but I am determined that we will continue to bring poverty levels down."
The report points out that people without employment, in home duties or with a disability or illness are most likely to be in consistent poverty. It stresses the need to improve social welfare payments as well as public services such as education, healthcare, housing and public transport. Ms Johnston noted that such services were particularly important for people in poverty. Given the expected downturn in the economy, she added: "It is important that investment levels in public services do not diminish but are enhanced so that we can eradicate poverty and have public services that put us on a par with the norm in countries at a similar stage of development."
On social welfare, she said payments should be linked to wage increases in the economy, noting this would help to reduce relative income poverty.
Poverty reduction, she added, should be made "a national priority".
While the strategy contained a strong commitment to progress, "it will be necessary to ensure that adequate resources continue to be provided for anti-poverty measures in the likely harsher economic environment ahead".
The report shows the Combat Poverty Agency had a total income of €10.24 million last year, gained mainly from EU and Government grants. Some €5.46m was spent on the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, €1.27m on the agency's National Networks Programme and €1.35m on salary costs and expenses.
