There are now more people below the poverty line in Ireland than there were 10 years ago, according to the Conference of Religious in Ireland.
In its annual socio-economic review, published today, CORI points out that the gap between rich and poor, as well as the proportion of the population which is poor, has grown since the roar of the "Celtic Tiger" was first heard.
Using 50 per cent of the average income as the poverty line, it points out that 18.5 per cent of households now fall below it, compared with 16.3 per cent in 1987.
However, the situation has improved, in that people falling below the poverty line at the current time are not dropping so far below it as they were in 1987. As a result, CORI points out, the share of national income needed to bring them above it is less than it was 10 years ago.
There has never been a better time to tackle poverty and social exclusion, according to CORI. It points out that the Partnership 2000 agreement contained a number of measures aimed at doing so, but most of them remain to be implemented. The cost would be just over £80 million in a full year, excluding social welfare increases.
The report castigates the tax and welfare policies of successive governments for favouring the better-off. It says they have brought about a situation where today the disposable income of the top 10 per cent of the population (24.67 per cent of all disposable income) is greater than that of the bottom 50 per cent (which gets 24.26 per cent).
The last Budget dramatically widened the gap between winners and losers, it says. The unemployed gained nothing at all from the pay increases and tax reductions under Partnership 2000. Single people on £40,000 a year benefited three times more from the last budget than those on £10,000, while married people on that income got twice as much from the Budget as those on £20,000. Yet there were twice as many people in the latter group, and the single people on low incomes outnumbered those on £40,000 by 20 to one.
"It is obvious from these simple calculations that a relatively small group of wealthy individuals benefited disproportionately from the main personal tax reductions in Budget '98."
CORI outlines a strategy to redress some of these inequalities and ensure full participation in society by all citizens. These include a basic income for every man, woman and child, to replace both social welfare payments and tax allowances; major tax reform; employment initiatives; an increase in public housing; a reallocation of health expenditure to favour community care, and targeting the poor and excluded in the education system.