901. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons living in poverty in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1718/25]

Official poverty data is published annually by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). This is an annual voluntary survey of c. 5,000 households (c. 12,000 individuals) carried out by the CSO.

The 2023 SILC survey data, published by the CSO in March 2024, shows that the 2023 national consistent poverty rate was 3.6% down from 4.9% in 2022. This equates to approximately 185,000 people based on the 2022 Census figures.

This is the lowest rate of consistent poverty recorded since the start of the SILC survey.

SILC 2023 data further reports that the At Risk of Poverty (AROP) rate was 10.6% (equating to just under 546,000 people).  This represents a decrease on the 2022 AROP rate of 12.5%.

Additionally, the 2023 SILC data show Ireland continues to be one of the EU’s best performing countries for the poverty reduction effect of social transfers (excluding pensions). The at-risk-of-poverty rate reduced from 34.1% before social transfers to 10.6% after social transfers. This equated to a poverty reduction effect of 68.9% in 2023.

However the SILC 2023 data did show that the percentage of people living in enforced deprivation increased from 16.6% in 2022 to 17.3% in 2023. The groups most likely to experience enforced deprivation were those: unable to work due to long-standing health problems (44.7%); living in single-adult households with children under 18 (41.4%); unemployed (37.8%); and living in rented or rent-free accommodation (36.5%).

Government is very much aware that addressing poverty needs continued and concerted action.