An increase of €100m in the Working Family Payment (WFP) is needed to lift 26,000 people, 12,000 of them children, out of poverty.
The report analysed the differences that €100m and €1bn of targeted social welfare increases would have on those at risk of poverty.
It found that the single most effective move would be to increase the income limit for the WFP, reducing the overall at risk of poverty (AROP) rate by 0.5 percentage points, the child poverty rate by one percentage point, and by 1.1 percentage points for people who rent.
In contrast, increasing the rate of payment of core working age benefits (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Jobseeker’s Benefit, One-Parent Family Payment, Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment, and Disability Allowance) or qualified adult payments (QAI) reduces the overall AROP rate by around 0.3 percentage points.
'More work to do'
Mr O'Brien says in the report that the Government is committed to the target of reducing the rate of consistent poverty to 2% or lower by 2025 and that while progress has been made, more work is needed.
"It is welcome to see progress towards this goal, with consistent poverty falling to 4% in the most recent official poverty data for Ireland (SILC 2021). However, there is still work to be done to reach this ambitious target.
"When commissioning this piece of research, I was eager to progress our efforts to reach our target by eliciting more specific pathways of getting to our destination."
The report finds that providing employment to the head of jobless households reduces the overall AROP rate by two percentage points and by three percentage points for children, but warns that introducing a mandatory living wage of €12.90 per hour has "very little effect on the overall AROP rate", cutting it by 0.5 percentage points.
The ESRI report comes as the Government finds itself under sustained pressure over the cost of living crisis with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe thus far rebuffing calls to intervene before October's budget.
Mr Donohoe on Friday moved to temper expectations about any giveaway either in the summer or October, even as his Cabinet colleagues eye up spending proposals.
Mr Donohoe has warned that the available €1.5bn headroom will have to be used across the board and will have to factor in public sector pay talks, which are to move to a formal stage this week.
The cost of living crisis and welfare increases are to become bones of contention in the Coalition in coming weeks, with Fine Gael keen to link increases to average pay rather than inflation.
