Originally Posted by Truth.ie

10% couldn't afford a roast??
Surely it costs the same to roast chicken/ potatoes etc as it does to boil chicken/potatoes etc??

No man, the tv license has to be paid to enable x-factor to be seen!

Some lies! - my household income for the week is less than €300 and all the bills have to be paid out of that. It was similar in 2008 - where do these figures come from? If that was the case, nobody would have medical cards in this country - the income limit per week is well under €200 for that. Somebody is telling extreme lies or else I'm way out of line with everyone around. Sometimes I think so. It seems everybody else can smoke, go on holidays, drink, upgrade their cars etc.... I do none of those.

Originally Posted by hedzog

Based on what , selling houses to each other again ?

DEBT write off. If I can write off some or all of my mortgage debt

Originally Posted by hammer

DINKYs probably distort the figures.

The at risk of poverty threshold for a 2 adult and 2 children family is €25,127. This means the median disposable income for a family of 2 adults and 2 children is €41,878 or just over €800 a week.

Originally Posted by Truth.ie

10% couldn't afford a roast??
Surely it costs the same to roast chicken/ potatoes etc as it does to boil chicken/potatoes etc??

Chickens have never been cheaper. €5 or so. If people cant afford that they are under serious pressure.

Originally Posted by Taxi Driver

The CSO's Survey of Income and Living Conditions has got some attention, particularly for its insights on inequality. However, there are some under useful figures in it. One is that in 2010 average household disposable income in Ireland was €43,333. Granted this is down 12% on the €49,043 that was recorded in 2008 (though the 5.4% decrease in the CPI over the two years will have ameliorated some of the drop). The 2010 figure is pretty much in line with what it was in 2006.

This is a weekly disposable of €830 a week. Plenty of scope for at least some households to go an a holiday on that!

There is undoubtedly a huge number of households in serious difficulty. The numbers "at risk of poverty" are around 720,000. For a family of two adults and two children the threshold is a disposable income of €25,127 or €483 a week. I appreciate the difficulties that those below this threshold are enduring and how quickly this money will be consumed by basic necessities but there are 3,850,000 people above the threshold.

The 11 types of depravation are (percentage of those at risk of poverty reporting this for 2010):

Without heating at some stage in the last year (17.9%)
Unable to afford a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight (32.0%)
Unable to afford two pairs of strong shoes (5.5%)
Unable to afford a roast once a week (10.0%)
Unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken or fish every second day (5.8%)
Unable to afford new (not second-hand) clothes (13.9%)
Unable to afford a warm waterproof coat (4.6%)
Unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm (12.2%)
Unable to afford to replace any worn out furniture (30.3%)
Unable to afford to have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month (28.0%)
Unable to afford to buy presents for family or friends at least once a year (7.1%)

Wll that's a daft list! I don't drink, I'm a vegetarian and I haven't gone for "a morning, afternoon or evening out" this year, but I don't feel particularly deprived.

Originally Posted by Taxi Driver

The at risk of poverty threshold for a 2 adult and 2 children family is €25,127. This means the median disposable income for a family of 2 adults and 2 children is €41,878 or just over €800 a week.

It all comes down to the property bollixology. Chasing house prices higher, 100% mortgages, etc.......

These average disposable incomes are UNSUSTAINABLE.

What is the similar figure in Germany / Finland / Spain.

Originally Posted by hammer

Chickens have never been cheaper. €5 or so. If people cant afford that they are under serious pressure.

No I was making the point that they specified a "roast".
The insinuation being that roasting a chicken or any meal was more expensive than boiling a chicken.
This is nonsense. I don't get this part.

Originally Posted by Taxi Driver

The CSO's Survey of Income and Living Conditions has got some attention, particularly for its insights on inequality. However, there are some under useful figures in it. One is that in 2010 average household disposable income in Ireland was €43,333. Granted this is down 12% on the €49,043 that was recorded in 2008 (though the 5.4% decrease in the CPI over the two years will have ameliorated some of the drop). The 2010 figure is pretty much in line with what it was in 2006.

This is a weekly disposable of €830 a week. Plenty of scope for at least some households to go an a holiday on that!

There is undoubtedly a huge number of households in serious difficulty. The numbers "at risk of poverty" are around 720,000. For a family of two adults and two children the threshold is a disposable income of €25,127 or €483 a week. I appreciate the difficulties that those below this threshold are enduring and how quickly this money will be consumed by basic necessities but there are 3,850,000 people above the threshold.

Of the 15.8% of the population who are at risk of poverty, 39.4% of these experienced two or more types of enforced deprivation. There is 6.2% of the population, or 275,000, who are at risk of poverty and experiences two or more types of depravation. The are 4,300,000 people not in this category and 61.6% of those at risk of poverty did not report two or more types of depravation.

The 11 types of depravation are (percentage of those at risk of poverty reporting this for 2010):

Without heating at some stage in the last year (17.9%)
Unable to afford a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight (32.0%)
Unable to afford two pairs of strong shoes (5.5%)
Unable to afford a roast once a week (10.0%)
Unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken or fish every second day (5.8%)
Unable to afford new (not second-hand) clothes (13.9%)
Unable to afford a warm waterproof coat (4.6%)
Unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm (12.2%)
Unable to afford to replace any worn out furniture (30.3%)
Unable to afford to have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month (28.0%)
Unable to afford to buy presents for family or friends at least once a year (7.1%)

There is still a requirement for huge progress to be made in this area, and the figures show that we are going in the wrong direction but this remains an economy in which most people are reasonably well off by domestic standards and hugely so by global standards.

With almost half million people unemployed in this country, I have to raise at least one curious eyebrow over the authenticity of such claims !!!

Originally Posted by junius

Some lies! - my household income for the week is less than €300 and all the bills have to be paid out of that. It was similar in 2008 - where do these figures come from? If that was the case, nobody would have medical cards in this country - the income limit per week is well under €200 for that. Somebody is telling extreme lies or else I'm way out of line with everyone around. Sometimes I think so. It seems everybody else can smoke, go on holidays, drink, upgrade their cars etc.... I do none of those.

This is a survey of 11,587 people. You weren't asked but it's pretty likely that someone in a similar situation was included.

About 30% of the population has a medical card but if you exclude the over 70s the proportion drops to around 25%. The income limit for a medical card for a 2 adult 2 child family is €342.50 per week with additional allowances made for rent, childcare and travel to work expenses. Any family whose income is solely Social Welfare payments will automatically get a medical card.