The Central Statistics Office doesn’t do politics but if ever there was a release of data that should send a strong political message to policymakers it was the latest Survey on Income and Living Conditions.
The annual snapshot from the number-crunchers at the State agency contained alarming figures on the struggles of a large proportion of our older population in the cost-of-living crisis.
The percentage of people at risk of poverty – defined as people on disposable income of €15,000 or less a year – increased by the equivalent of about 76,000 people in the year but the bulk of that increase – an estimated 55,000 – are aged 65 and over. All told, there are almost 144,000 older people living in poverty, according to estimates from Social Justice Ireland, based on the CSO’s data. Overall, there are 671,000 people living in poverty including about 188,000 children.
In percentage terms, the number of people aged 65 and over found to be at risk of poverty has surged from 11.9 per cent to 19 per cent, or one in five of this age group, in just one year. Had it not been for the Government’s Covid-19 supports to help people through the pandemic, impoverishment would have been far higher: some 20 per cent of the overall population would have been at risk of poverty.
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Older people living alone are particularly affected. The survey found that one in three people living in households with a single adult aged 65 years and over were at risk of poverty. When it comes to paying bills, they were roughly twice as likely to miss mortgage or rental payments, or fall behind on paying utility bills or loan repayments.
The survey of more than 4,000 households and 11,000 individuals based the at-risk-of-poverty figures on income for the 2021 calendar year and the full consequences from soaring inflation this year will only be seen in the CSO’s corresponding survey published next year.
The message from these figures is clear. Older people need greater support. Social Justice Ireland and Age Action said the figures show that the one-off measures announced by the Government last week to help people weather the cost-of-living pressures will only go so far.
Coming after three difficult years for older people who bore much of the brunt of the pandemic, either from adverse consequences on their health or on their social isolation, the Government must consider tying the State pension to inflation so older people’s spending power remains undiminished by the increased cost of living.
In 2016, then taoiseach Enda Kenny said Ireland was a “great country” for people to “grow old with dignity”. For a significant number, this is not currently the case. The Government’s once-off measures did much to cushion the immediate blow of the cost-of-living crisis, but longer-term thinking – and action – is called for too.