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Collins, Micheál
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Collins, Micheál
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Collins, Micheál
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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
- PublicationRevealing a Hidden Cost: determining the public service cost of poverty in IrelandLiving life on a poverty income is common in Irish society. Between 2010-20, on average one in seven people lived on an income below the poverty line – approximately 720,000 individuals. By necessity living life on such a low-income imposes costs on these individuals and families. Making ends meet involves personal sacrifices, restricts options and limits opportunities; and for many it is not always possible to find ways to make ends meet. These individual costs of poverty are large scale and leave effects that last years and at times generations. Alongside these individual costs, poverty is responsible for other costs. In particular, the presence of poverty in a society triggers demands on the public purse. These costs derive from the identification of poverty as a determining factor in the need for, and demand for, a wide range of public services and policies ranging across almost all areas of public policy. Building on past literature from the UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand this study attempts to establish a heretofore absent benchmark for the recurring annual costs to the state of poverty in Ireland. In doing so it adopts a different approach to the existing literature, drawing from experiences in the economic evaluation literature, to determine a range of costs rather than just one figure. These range from a conservative ‘low estimate’ to an upper-limit ‘high estimate’ with a ‘main estimate’ reflecting the most probable annual cost. The analysis is based on a review of €27.9 billion of annual public service expenditure and highlight for all members of society, whether above or below the poverty line, the recurring public expenditure costs incurred by society as a result of poverty.
56 - PublicationAssessing Household’s Living Standards and Income Resilience at the outset of the Cost-of-Living CrisisThis paper explores the living standards of Ireland’s 1.9 million households at the outset of the 2021/23 cost-of-living crisis and considers the heterogeneous experience of that crisis by households across income distribution. The widespread nature of price increases, and their particular impact on areas of large recurring household expenditure (e.g. food, fuel and energy), has resulted in a cost-of-living crisis impacting all households, although some faced into the crisis with a better ability to absorb, or manage, these higher living costs. Using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) the paper considers the living standards of households at the outset of the crisis, and based on this assesses their capacity to absorb increases in nominal living costs. Using data on the subjective assessment of household’s ability to make ends meet, it classifies households into those who were already struggling, those who were unlikely to be able to absorb a marked increase in nominal living costs, and those with sufficient means to manage these cost increases despite their scale. The paper poses three research questions: What were living standards like prior to the crisis? What ability had households to absorb large nominal increases in living costs? Which households were most impacted by the crisis? Households are examined across the income distribution and within other socio-economic classifications such as household composition and tenure. The analysis therefore aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of the resilience, or otherwise, of Irish households as they faced into the cost-of-living crisis.
216 - PublicationLow Paid Older Workers: a quantitative and qualitative profile of low pay among workers aged over 50Research on the topic of low pay has experienced a revival in Ireland over recent years triggered by a greater policy shift towards understanding and addressing low pay, growing interest in the challenges of employment precarity, and greater research and policy engagement on the relationship between earnings and living standards. While the overall scale and composition of low paid employment is now much better understood, there has been less focus on the nature and experiences of low pay among specific cohorts of the labour force. This research report examines one heretofore underexplored group, older workers in low pay and aims to establish insights into the scale and experience of low pay among employees aged 50 years and older. It brings together themes of ageing populations, labour market earnings and living conditions to explore the following questions: • what is the scale and profile of low pay among older workers? • does low pay differ between older workers and the low paid in general, and if so, how? • does the household and financial situation of older workers differ from that of the low paid in general, and if so, how? • what are the reasons behind why older workers become and remain low paid? • how do these workers evaluate their rate of pay given the work that they do? The study takes a mixed-methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore these questions. While either of these methodological approaches could be taken by themselves to examine this issue, there are benefits associated with combining both so that the research analysis and findings offer a more comprehensive understanding of the nature, scale, contexts and experiences of low pay among older workers in Ireland.
79 - PublicationWhither Irish Citizens’ Social Rights in (post) Brexit Europe: An Analysis of East/West and North/South challenges(2019-09-19)
; On the 23rd June 2016 the United Kingdom voted in the ‘Brexit’ referendum to leave the European Union. The nature of the final agreement between the UK and the EU regarding their relationship after Brexit is as yet uncertain. However, irrespective of the details of the agreement reached, there is no doubt that Brexit will have enormous implications for businesses, trade and the economy, governments and policy makers and also for citizens of Ireland. Geography and history have forged close economic and social ties between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, which have been strengthened and extended by the open borders, trade and travel enabled by these jurisdictions’ EU membership since 1973. The process of UK withdrawal from the EU will disrupt these ties and will require the introduction of alternative legal and policy arrangements and services to facilitate continued co-operation and economic and social links between Ireland and the UK. Policy and legal adjustments will also be needed to manage relations between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.138 - PublicationThe Hidden Cost of Poverty: Estimating the Public Service Cost of Poverty in IrelandLiving life on a poverty income is common in Irish society. It is the reality for around 700,000 people living in 270,000 households across the state. By necessity living life on such a low income imposes costs on these individuals and families. Making ends meet involves personal sacrifices, restricts options and limits opportunities; for many it is not always possible to find ways to make ends meet. These individual costs of poverty are large scale and leave effects that last years and at times generations. Alongside these individual costs, poverty is responsible for other costs. In particular, the presence of poverty in a society triggers demands on the public purse. These costs derive from the identification of poverty as a determining factor in the need for, and demand for, a wide range of public services and policies ranging across almost all areas of public policy. This report draws on a wide range of data, and the experiences of asking similar questions in other countries, to determine estimates of the annual public service cost of poverty for Ireland. In doing so the analysis reviews public spending across six broad areas of public policy, and within them twenty-five individual areas or expenditure programmes, accounting for a total of €27.9bn in annual state spending. Within this expenditure, the report attempts to isolate the proportion of public service provision that is driven by current and past experiences of poverty.
112 - PublicationIrish Social Attitudes in 2018-19: topline results from round 9 of the European Social Survey(UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, 2020-09-22)
; ; ; The National Coordinating Team at the Geary Institute for Public Policy at University College Dublin, in partnership with the Irish Research Council, is pleased to present the first national report ever produced for the European Social Survey in Ireland. Without peer, the European Social Survey has recorded the perspectives, aspirations, and concerns of the Irish population for nearly 20 years. Ireland has participated in each round of the biannual survey since the first (2002) and has already begun preparations for the 10th round, which will enter the field in 2021. This report offers an accessible and comprehensive overview of the main findings of the 9th round, which was collected by face-to-face interview between late 2018 and early 2019. The intention is to inform a broad audience and contextualise Irish public opinion over a period of significant economic uncertainty and demographic transformation.63