Rising poverty rates shows the need to urgently address income adequacy

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SILC 2025

Over one in eight people were living in poverty in 2025.  Behind this data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions is the lived reality for people and households across the country. Struggling to make ends meet on fixed or low incomes and trying to cope with ongoing impact of the rising cost of household staples, further reducing the purchasing power of their income, and no sign of a fall in prices on the horizon.  Indeed, current global turmoil in oil and gas prices could further increase the cost of basic commodities.

  
Key Findings

  • 687,784 people in Ireland are living in poverty (12.6 per cent), of which 211,150 are children.
  • Without temporary cost of living measures, 14.9 per cent of the population (an additional 125,548 people) would have been living in poverty.
  • 122,425 older people are living in poverty, an increase of 15 per cent compared to 2024. This number would be substantially higher were it not for the impact of one-off measures.
  • 148,561 people living in poverty are in employment - the “working poor”.
  • 256,554 people in Ireland are in consistent poverty, 4.7 per cent of the population, broadly unchanged from 5 per cent in 2024.  
  • Eight in ten persons experiencing consistent poverty are living in rented or rent-free accommodation.
  • 68,091 students/pupils are living in poverty, an increase of 42 per cent compared to 2024.
  • Almost 20 per cent of the population are at risk of poverty once mortgage interest or rent has been paid.
  • The at risk of poverty rate for those living in accommodation rented with housing supports, such as the Housing Assistance Payment, Rent Supplement and the Rental Accommodation Scheme, is 58  per cent once rent has been paid.
  • Nearly three in ten people who are unable to work due to long-standing health problems are living in poverty.
  • Almost one in three persons who are unemployed are living in poverty.  In addition, 18 per cent of unemployed people are experiencing consistent poverty, broadly unchanged from 2024.  

Short-term transfers masked a shift towards greater poverty levels in 2023 and 2024, particularly among older people. Today’s figures show us the true impact of rising costs on vulnerable households, even when temporary supports were still available.  A clear example of this is the poverty rate among older people, which increased by 15 per cent in a year with more than 122,400 older persons living in poverty in 2025 compared to almost 106,500 in 2024, and 65,000 in 2023. This poses a major challenge to Government. These figures point to the long term economic and social impact of rising prices on households on the lowest incomes. The deprivation rate for households experiencing poverty has increased substantially in the past year, as has the number of households struggling to make ends meet and in arrears on utility bills. Continued inflation means that the real value of household income is being eroded, placing households reliant on fixed incomes in a very precarious position. 

Delivering on Programme for Government commitments

Social Justice Ireland warmly welcomed the Programme for Government commitment to run progressive budgets.  Rising poverty rates show that adequate levels of social welfare are essential to the delivery of this commitment.  In last year’s budget Government failed to deliver the necessary increase in social welfare rates to begin to address poverty.  In Budget 2027, it is essential that Government commit to benchmarking core social welfare rates to average earnings and make the commensurate increases in social welfare rates that this requires. Rising poverty rates highlight the urgent need for Government to address income adequacy.   Today’s figures show that more people are falling further behind and a widening disparity between those on the lowest incomes and the rest of society.  A clear policy commitment by Government to protect the most vulnerable in Irish society accompanied by action to support low-income households is urgently required if we are to build a genuinely fair society.  

Impact of social welfare payments on poverty

Social welfare payments play a crucial role in reducing poverty. Today’s figures show that without the social welfare system 33.2 per cent of the population would have been living in poverty in 2025. However, social welfare payments more than halved the poverty rate, reducing it to 12.6 per cent. In relation to people unable to work due to long-standing health problems, the rates of poverty (28.4 per cent) and deprivation (39.2 per cent) for this cohort remain stubbornly high. Government must implement the commitment to a cost of disability payment and improved services and other supports as a matter of urgency.

Children

In 2025, nearly one in six children (17 per cent) lived in households that were below the poverty line, and almost 245,000 children lived in households experiencing deprivation. Given the long-term impacts of poverty on children it is imperative that addressing child poverty is a priority for this government. Addressing the core problem of income adequacy is essential to addressing child poverty. Fundamentally, child poverty cannot be separated from the poverty experienced by the families to which children belong.  Child poverty solutions hinge on issues such as adequate adult welfare rates, decent rates of pay and conditions for working parents, and adequate and available public services. Child benefit also remains a key route to tackling child poverty. It is of particular value to those families on the lowest incomes.

Housing and poverty

This data sheds light on the disproportionate vulnerability of renters to poverty.   According to the figures, almost 20 per cent of the population are at risk of poverty once mortgage interest or rent has been paid.  For those in private rented accommodation, the at risk of poverty rate is 42.6 per cent once rent is paid.  After deducting rent paid, over two in five (45.2 per cent) of those that stated they lived in rented or rent-free accommodation are at risk of poverty. For those renting from a local authority, 40.6 per cent are at risk of poverty after deducting rent paid.  For those in receipt of social housing supports, such as the Housing Assistance Payment, Rent Supplement and the Rental Accommodation Scheme the at risk of poverty rate is 58 per cent once rent was paid. “These figures indicate that far from supporting families out of poverty, housing subsidies are so inadequate as to be allowing greater numbers into it. The poverty risk of households in receipt of housing subsidies continues to be the highest of all occupancy type. Government must prioritise social housing delivery.  

 In-work poverty

The CSO figures show that in-work poverty is 5.8 per cent. This equates to more than 148,000 people in employment living below the poverty line. Many working families on low earnings struggle to achieve a basic standard of living.  Specific interventions are required to tackle the issue of the ‘working-poor’. One of the most effective policy interventions would be to make tax credits refundable. Until Government makes tax credits refundable, it will not have an efficient mechanism by which it can address the issue of the working poor. The in-work poverty figure has remained consistently above 100,000 for several years now, indicating that in-work poverty is a trend which policy-makers and successive Governments have thus far failed to make any impact on. The idea of a job as an automatic poverty reliever is clearly contradicted by this data. The job must be well paid with decent conditions and adequate hours. Year after year this large group of workers hears of gains from the Budget but experiences little if any of them; something that cannot persist both due to its distributive effects and the socio-political reality that we cannot keep ignoring these workers and families.

Policy recommendations:

If poverty and deprivation rates are to fall in the years ahead, Social Justice Ireland believes that in the period ahead Government, and policymakers generally, should: 

  • Benchmark core social welfare rates to 27.5 per cent of average weekly earnings in 2025 as a first step towards indexing social welfare rates against wages.  
  • Acknowledge that Ireland has an on-going poverty and deprivation problem.
  • Adopt targets aimed at reducing poverty and deprivation among particularly vulnerable groups such as children, lone parents, jobless households, and those in social housing.
  • Examine and support viable alternative policy options aimed at giving priority to protecting vulnerable sectors of society.
  • Carry out in-depth social impact assessments prior to implementing proposed policy initiatives that impact on the income and public services on which many low-income households depend. This should include the poverty-proofing of all public policy initiatives.
  • Recognise the problem of the ‘working poor’. Make tax credits refundable to address the situation of households in poverty which are headed by a person with a job.
  • Support the widespread adoption of the Living Wage so that low paid workers receive an adequate income and can afford a minimum, but decent, standard of living.
  • Introduce a cost of disability allowance to address poverty and social exclusion of people with a disability.
  • Recognise the reality of poverty among migrants and adopt policies to assist this group. In addressing this issue, replace direct provision with a fairer system that ensures adequate allowances are paid to asylum seekers.  
  • Accept that persistent poverty should be used as the primary indicator of poverty measurement and assist the CSO in allocating sufficient resources to collect this data.
  • Move towards introducing a basic income system. No other approach has the capacity to ensure all members of society have sufficient income to live life with dignity.
  • Acknowledge the failure to meet repeated policy targets on poverty reduction and commit sufficient resources to achieve credible new targets.