"The poor you have always with you"

Well, that's a given, but I'm not sure I accept that nearly 10% of the people here are living in "consistent poverty". So long as you keep changing the definition of poverty you'll be able to show that huge numbers of people live in poverty.

If I were the government minister in charge of this area I'd have dismissed the ESRI's figures as complete nonsense, but instead we have Seamus Brennan giving them some credence.

"Whether we have 80,000 or 220,000 remaining in real poverty can be debated but the reality is that whatever the real numbers it is clear that there is a task that is extremely urgent and important," he said.

"That is why our focus must be on targeted welfare supports and services so that real poverty, which has no place in the Ireland of the 21st century, can be finally eliminated."

He must have been worried that if only the genuinely poor - no money for food, shelter, clothing - were counted that someone might suggest winding up his entire department.

Or, maybe it's part of some devious plot? Is it possible that the Irish government likes to promote the idea that we have large numbers of poor people here still in order to convince our EU partners that we're not as rich as the popular press keeps saying?

Check out the second of the two letters in today's Glasgow Herald. Hugh Kerr writing from Denmark says "the Celtic Tiger is a myth" and as evidence he points to the "official Irish agency to combat poverty has just produced its annual report which shows that Ireland has 25% of its children growing up in poverty". So, Hugh's off in Denmark believing what he reads about Ireland rather than what anyone here can see with their own eyes.