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Thu 11 Nov 2006Poverty risk 'among EU's highest'The number of Irish people at risk of poverty is one of the highest in the EU, with nearly one in five of the population at risk, a major new survey reveals.The EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2005, published by the Central Statistics Office, shows that 19.7 per cent of the population here last year was at risk of poverty, compared with 20.9 per cent in 2004. Only Portugal and the Slovak Republic matched the latter rate, the survey found.