Dr. Donal de Buitléir:

On the issue of poverty traps, I spent three years on the Commission on Taxation in the 1990s, chaired by Mr. Donal Nevin, which tried very hard to deal with the issues of poverty and unemployment traps which can be a real problem. As a result of the work of that committee, there was a substantial improvement in the situation with regard to poverty traps. For example, if I recall correctly, people no longer automatically lost their medical cards when they took up a job but held onto it for a number of years.

Low pay is only one element of the income distribution picture. The availability of work and the number of hours one works are also important factors. Pay is only one part of the jigsaw. In terms of living conditions, much depends on one's personal circumstances. A single student still living at home on a low income could have an acceptable standard of living while a person with four or five children and a heavy mortgage who might ostensibly have a high income could be in real financial difficulty. It is quite a complicated issue and does not lend itself to putting a simple number on it in terms of disposable income.