People in local authority accommodation are five times more likely to be living in poverty compared to home-owners, figures from the Combat Poverty Agency indicate.
Publishing a new study, Mapping Poverty: National, Regional and County Patterns, the agency today said the figures had clear implications for Government housing policy.
It found that although the large urban areas manifested the lowest levels of deprivation, pockets of Dublin, Cork and Limerick were among the highest - Galway city was an exception. Dublin's commuter belt also showed relatively low poverty levels.
Combat Poverty Agency director Helen Johnston
The highest level of consistent poverty was recorded in Co Donegal, where the risk was nearly twice the national average and counties Leitrim, Mayo and Longford were among the areas most deprived.
Agency director Helen Johnston acknowledged that while "housing tenure is strongly correlated with a risk of poverty", this was not unexpected because such accommodation was reserved for low-incomes.
However, she said: "People in these neighbourhoods are further disadvantaged by the quality and availability of local services, for example: health, transport, sport and recreational and retail and financial services."
Although recognised factors such as unemployment, illness, age and lone parenthood remain the driving forces behind poverty, the report clearly indicates housing and regional factors must also be accounted for.
Locally based initiatives and supports for community action would help address some of the problems and local authorities also have role increase such as local authority estate management, Ms Johnston said.
She also said that Government needed to meet its own targets for addressing poverty and that greater political will is required. She also acknowledged the report's findings on the distribution of poverty reflect the Government's failure to meet regional spending targets under the National Development Plan.
Ms Johnston said the political will was needed to provide the impetus for meeting existing targets for addressing social deprivation. For instance the rule requiring developers to allocate 20 per cent of newly built homes for socially affordable housing was progressive but not being observed.
Labour spokesman on social and family affairs Willie Penrose said the findings were not surprising given the Government's failure to meet regional spending targets and its €55 million cutback in social welfare payments dubbed the "savage 16".
He said an integrated approach involving the departments of Social Welfare, Transport and Environment and Local Government was need to address the problems effectively.