The European Commission has warned that figures showing one in five Irish people remain at risk of poverty are a matter for concern.
It has also highlighted that a third of pensioners are at risk of poverty because pension incomes relative to the rest of the population are among the lowest in Europe.
The warnings are contained in the commission's Joint Report on Social Protection and Inclusion 2007, which was published yesterday and will be presented to EU employment and social affairs ministers, including the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Séamus Brennan, at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
The report gives a generally upbeat assessment of the Republic's economic and employment position, noting that it is on target to achieve EU targets set under the Lisbon Agenda reform programme. Unemployment re- mains low at 4.4 per cent while participation rates at work of 70.8 per cent exceed the EU averages of 70.2 per cent.
But the report raises concerns about the high number of Irish people at risk of poverty, which stood at 20 per cent in 2004, compared to an EU average of 16 per cent. It notes more recent data from 2005 suggests that the at risk of poverty rates will significantly reduce, however it says it is still a "matter of concern".
It says that old people are most at risk of poverty because pensioner incomes are among the lowest in the EU-25, relative to the overall population. In 2004, a third of people over 65 were at risk of poverty, despite the fact that State pensions have been increasing at a faster rate than prices and earnings.
It also says that financial costs of healthcare are rather high and the number of general practitioners working in the Republic are low. GP numbers at 3.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004 are well below other EU countries, such as England - which has 80.8 GPs per 100,000 inhabitants.
The report identifies several major challenges for the Government to manage. These include: ensuring that the investment in services is sustained and delivered in an integrated manner; adapting services to cope with migration; ensuring the ongoing adequacy of income support for pensioners; tackling major barriers to access to healthcare; and improving efficiency in the health system.
