Dr. Tricia Keilthy:

According to the Central Statistics Office, those who are at risk of poverty or living below the poverty line are defined as people who have incomes that is less than 60% of the median. We also have a consistent poverty measures which capture families and individuals who are also experiencing deprivation. I refer here to those who are on low incomes and who are going without basics like suitable clothing, adequate nutrition and adequate heat. We would also think that the minimum essential standard of living can also be a complementary measure because it captures the cost of living. In other countries, housing costs are subtracted prior to any income being calculated and then that would form part of the definition. In Ireland, we do not include the cost of housing. As I mentioned previously, HAP and HAP top-ups tend to drive poverty among households on low incomes at the moment but that is not captured in our national statistics. So, the measures are primarily income-based and are really important. They allow us to track trends over time and allow comparisons with other European countries but they do not always adequately capture the cost of living in Ireland, which is very high and which causes people to go without.

On direct provision, the supports provided in centres are food and accommodation. What we find is that many households and families with children have the same costs in respect of education. A lot of calls relate to access to education for people who live in direct provision, books, contributions and any other costs that fall on parents at back-to-school time. We found during the lockdown that the digital divide became very prevalent across all households but low-income households in particular. We also found that children and those in third level education living in direct provision who did not have access to digital devices were struggling to keep up with their learning and online studies. Those are the types of requests that we get from people living in direct provision. We made a submission to the expert group on the future model of international protection, chaired by Dr. Catherine Day. We also made a submission to the process relating to the Government White Paper on direct provision in the context of how we can improve living standards and the protection process relating to applications and the processing thereof.