Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, there are many different ways of measuring inequality but the measure that is most commonly used is the Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality. That shows that Ireland is one of the more equal countries in the European Union and the OECD. While it is not the case every year, it does show that over the period of the last five to seven years, inequality in Ireland has narrowed, whereas in other countries it has widened. On other measures you mention such as, for example, life expectancy, we now have one of the highest levels of life expectancy in the EU, if not the highest. That is down to the good patient outcomes that our health service delivers, notwithstanding the major issues that we face around access. If you look at educational outcomes, for example, Ireland performs very well in terms of literacy and numeracy, as well as progression to further and higher education.

If you look at the UN's human development index, Ireland is always in the top ten countries in the world. There are different ways to measure these things. Certainly, when it comes to those two measures, the UN's human development index and the Gini coefficient used by the CSO, we compare well with other countries. Most the time we are moving up, not down, the league tables.

I think the figure the Deputy used, which was 13%, includes people who are at risk of poverty as well as those who are in consistent poverty. What can we do about it? Employment. We know that one of the best ways to get people out of poverty is through employment. We now have record numbers of people at work in Ireland. That employment has to come with decent pay and conditions. That is why we increased the minimum wage this year by more than the rate of inflation, and we will see the move towards a living wage over the coming years, something I led in my previous job in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Finally, we know that Ireland's social welfare system and our tax system are among the most efficient in the world at redistributing wealth. That is set out in Social Justice Ireland reports and other reports. We had a significant welfare package in the last budget and, of course, there will be a welfare package in the budget in October as well.

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