Large sectors of the community remained deeply entrenched in poverty despite Ireland's economic boom of recent years, a conference in Dublin heard today.
Despite the perception that the country is awash with money, the reality for many of Ireland's most vulnerable citizens is that their quality of life has declined, Fr Sean Healy, director of the justice committee of the Conference of Religious In Ireland (Cori) , told the conference.
"Many people have benefited little from Ireland's economic growth and many of those who have benefited have seen the quality of their lives deteriorate despite increasing incomes," he said.
"These are challenges that flow from Ireland's success and they must be addressed before the opportunity to do so has passed us by."
Ten speakers at the 17th annual Cori social policy conference, including David Begg of Ictu and Ibec's Turlough O'Connor, will be speaking on the theme of "Securing Fairness and Wellbeing in a Land of Plenty".
The idea is to provide a demographic forecast for Ireland for the next 25 years and identify the key challenges in areas such as economic security, healthcare, education and housing.