Notes on the Front

Eurostat has a particularly grim measurement – severe material deprivation.  They take nine deprivation indicators in which people cannot afford the following items:

• to pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills
• to keep their home adequately warm
• to face unexpected expenses
• to eat meat or proteins regularly
• to go on holiday
• a television set
• a washing machine
• a car
• a telephone

If people cannot afford four of these nine deprivation experiences, they are categorised as suffering from severe material deprivation.  This is a harsher measurement employed by the CSO – which has a deprivation rate based on suffering from two of eleven deprivation experiences.

So what is the deprivation rate for tenants with a rent at reduced price or free – which is basically public housing tenants.  In Ireland this would largely mean local authority, or social, housing tenants.

Ireland leads the EU-15 table – higher than even Greece and Portugal.  More than one-in-four public housing tenants suffer from severe material deprivation.  This shouldn’t be surprising – the CSO estimates that 52 percent of public housing tenants suffer deprivation using their measurement.

We are getting lots and lots of talk about tax cuts.  Where do people  who suffer from material deprivation fit into this agenda?  Nowhere, it seems.  They are being air-brushed out of the debate.