Bare Necessities
By Tony Kelly

Bare Necessities is a booklet which I read sometime after Christmas when considering the cost of the festive break and not looking forward to paying for it. This is a real eye opener to anyone who believes poverty is seasonal or inflicted on those who can’t manage their living budget. This piece of research was carried out by Democratic Dialogue and begins by explaining the methodology of the research and how poverty is defined. I was surprised to read that similar research has been carried out in the Republic of Ireland under the National Anti -Poverty Strategy (N.A.P.S.) with somewhat similar findings.

After collecting data from the likes of social security a poverty threshold was established using other proven and established methods (The Northern Ireland 2002/03 consensual poverty threshold) poor households are those that lack at least three deprivation items and have on average an equivalent income of £156.27 per week. This was the outcome after a representative sample of the population were asked which items and activities they considered to be necessities of life. Households were interviewed based on a random sample of 2,000 addresses drawn from the valuation and lands agency list of addresses. After selecting one person living at the chosen household they were shown a list of 90 items and activities and asked which ones they regarded as necessities, that is something everyone should be able to afford and should not have to do without. One thousand and seventy interviews were successfully achieved from 1,790 addresses, a 60% response rate.

This book clearly illustrated how the findings were reached using case study charts and figures, which are easy to follow and understand. The findings represent the first ever large-scale quantitative study of poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland. It has confirmed evidence from administrative social security data and from other research that high levels of poverty and social exclusion exist in Northern Ireland.

It has provided a baseline measurement of both poverty and social exclusion, which can be updated periodically in the future. It has also provided data across the Section 75 dimensions specified in the Northern Ireland Act, which may be used as benchmarks against which to assess the extent to which public authorities have carried out their statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity. The study has documented and explained the most fundamental challenge at the heart of poverty research and political debate and how to define and measure the nature and extent of poverty. It also enables comparisons of poverty rated between Northern Ireland, Britain and the Republic of Ireland.These first ever statistically reliable findings on poverty in Northern Ireland are staggering.

More than one hundred and eighty five thousand households are poor and over half a million people live in poor households. There are marked important and significant differences in poverty rates between different social groups.

The disabled are nearly twice as likely to be in poverty as the non-disabled. The youngest group of households are twice as likely to be in poverty compared with the oldest. Women are more likely to be poorer than men. The level of poverty is 1.4 times as high in households where household respondents were Catholic compared to households where the household respondent is Protestant.

I found the most significant finding of all was that well over a third (37.4) of all the children in Northern Ireland are being brought up in poverty. There are challenges for the local politicians and society as a whole raised by this study and its findings. It remains to be seen if the political will to tackle these inequalities can be effective without local government

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