Successive reports have put childcare costs in Ireland at among the highest in the OECD. In this paper, we investigate the usage and cost of childcare in Ireland, profiling those experiencing high childcare costs by income quintile; family type and number and age of children. We show how the...

We analyse the effect of varying equivalization scales and income-sharing units (households, tax-units and benefit-units) on inequality and poverty statistics using Irish microdata. We find that benchmark equivalence scales result in substantial variation in the degree of income poverty...

We use SWITCH, the ESRI's tax-benefit model to simulate the scale, cost and distributive impact of the National Childcare Scheme. The paper provides updates to such estimates these authors produced in 2017, when the scheme was in its naissance. We estimate, that under the current parameters, the...

In this paper, using Ireland, where debt issues are of particular salience as a test case, we seek to understand the extent to which the measures currently employed as national indicators of poverty and social exclusion succeed in capturing over-indebtedness and, more broadly, severity of debt...

This paper examines socio-emotional and academic outcomes among 17-year-olds with different types of special educational needs and the role of parental educational expectations in shaping these outcomes, using data from Ireland's national longitudinal study of children. The analysis takes...

In this paper we seek to put Irish poverty rates in a comparative European context. We do so in a context whereby the Irish economic boom and EU enlargement have led to increasing reservations being expressed regarding rates deriving from the EU 'at risk of poverty' indicator. Our comparative...

In this paper we apply self organising maps (SOM) to a detailed set of material deprivation indicators from the Irish component of European Union Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The first stage of our analysis involves the identification and description of sixteen...

In this paper we address a set of interrelated issues. These comprise the relative merits of unidimensional versus multidimensional approaches to poverty and social exclusion, increasing concerns about reliance on nationally based income poverty measures in the context of EU-enlargement and the...

In this paper, using the EU-SILC 2006 data-set, we seek to explore the extent to which a consideration of welfare regime and socio-economic differences in poverty levels and patterns and variation in the consequences of poverty for economic stress can assist us in making informed choices between...

A large literature has emerged around the strong association between income inequality and average life expectancy and a range of health outcomes including mental well being. Three possible explanations for the association have been offered: that the association is a statistical artefact; the...