A new study on deprivation across the State shows many communities in rural and urban areas are "locked" in poverty despite the economic success of the last decade.
The findings, due to be published today, show for the first time how neighbourhoods in the 3,500 electoral divisions around the State have progressed between 1991 and 2002.
While the entire State has become much more affluent, the study shows that in relative terms the poorest areas - such as Ballyfermot, Ballymun and parts of Mayo and Donegal - remain trapped in deprivation and have not caught up with other parts of the country.
The most significant change among poverty blackspots was in Dublin's inner city, where the influx of two-income couples and young families has radically changed the social profile of the area.
The study shows that the biggest rise in affluence has been in commuter belts around Dublin, such as Kildare and Meath, as well as suburban areas outside cities such as Galway, Cork and Limerick.
The study, New Measures of Deprivation based on the Census of Population 1991-2002, was conducted by independent social economists Trutz Haase and Jonathan Pratschke for the semi-State group Area Development Management.
The findings of the study, which have been examined by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon Ó Cuív, will help guide the direction of more than €100 million in State funding programmes for at-risk areas.
Mr Haase said the findings showed that areas were locked in deprivation even though the country has become a much more affluent place since 1991.
"What this shows is that unemployment blackspots are not dissolving or catching up.
"They have improved, but they are not catching up with other parts of the country," he told The Irish Times.
An exception to this is Dublin's inner city and along the quays, where there has been massive gentrification and an influx in population.
For example, in one of the electoral wards in this area, North Dock, the proportion of people with third-level education has increased from 1 per cent to 44 per cent since 1991, while the population has increased by 53 per cent.
In broad terms, the study backs up the findings of last month's study by the Economic and Social Research Institute for the Combat Poverty Agency, which found that places such as Donegal and in the Border area were the poorest parts of the country.
However, this report goes further by breaking down measurements to electoral division level and using a new form of modelling, which draws on 10 information sources in the census figures to measure the extent of deprivation.
Mr Haase said the findings further boosted evidence of the "neighbourhood effect" on individuals living in deprived areas.
These additional effects compound deprivation through factors such as lower-quality teaching, lower levels of expectation for children and peer pressure on young people.
He said research consistently showed that achieving a better social mix was the most effective way of addressing problems of deprivation.
"The initiative of the former minister for the environment Noel Dempsey to try to set aside 20 per cent of new housing developments for social and affordable housing would have helped greatly," he said.
"However, middle-class society is happy to have these communities grouped away somewhere else.
"Unless these issues are addressed, there will continue to be repeated poverty and deprivation," he said.
