Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1756: To ask the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs the proportion of persons at risk of poverty; the proportion of persons at risk of poverty for each of the past five years; the regional and local differences in the risk of poverty in 2010 and for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31924/10]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Combating poverty and building an inclusive society are key priorities for the Government. The overall goal of the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016, which was introduced in February 2007, is to reduce the number of people experiencing consistent poverty to between 2% and 4% by 2012, with the aim of eliminating consistent poverty by 2016. The latest poverty results for 2008, which were published in November 2009, indicate that the Government is on track to meet this target. The principal source of data on poverty rates is the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions, which is published by the Central Statistics Office every year and is available at www.cso.ie/eusilc/pub_rel_eusilc.htm. In 2008, 4.2% of the population was living in consistent poverty. This represented a fall of 35% from 2006, when 6.5% of people were experiencing consistent poverty. In 2008, 14.4% of the population was at risk of poverty. This is a fall of 15% from 2006, when it stood at 17%. The CSO reports for 2006 to 2008 show that in the NUTS 2 regions, the consistent poverty rate in 2007, which is the latest year for which data have been reported, was 4.6% in the Southern and Eastern region and 6.7% in the Border, Midland and Eastern region. The at risk of poverty rate in 2007, which is the latest year for which data have been reported, was 14.3% in the Southern and Eastern region and 22.6% in the Border, Midland and Eastern region. The CSO reports show that the consistent poverty rate and the at risk of poverty rate in the NUTS 3 regions in 2008 were as follows:

The CSO reports do not contain information on local differences in the risk of poverty in 2010 or in the past five years. The overall decline in poverty between 2006 and 2008 highlights the critical role played by Government intervention in tackling poverty and social exclusion. The key driver in the reduction of poverty was social transfers. In 2008, social transfers reduced the at risk of poverty rate from 43% pre-social transfers to 14.4% post-social transfers, which represented a poverty reduction effect of 67%.