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The Vincentian MESL Research Centre at SVP is an independent research unit focused on establishing the minimum cost of a life with dignity for people in Ireland.
Our Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) research and analysis is applied across a range of social policy areas. Providing evidence-based policy recommendations and benchmark of minimum needs that is grounded in lived experience.
Established in 2022, the Research Centre continues the MESL research which was initiated by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) in 2004.
The Vincentian MESL Research Centre has been established within the SVP to ensure that the MESL research continues to be an independent source of data, retaining the purpose and identity of the research. As such it will continue to provide independent, methodologically robust research, contributing a key reference point to the policy debate.
The VPSJ wound up in 2022 and the research was transferred to the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) in July 2022. Through the MESL research, the VPSJ actively worked towards building a fairer society for all. The establishment of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre will see this work carried on, continuing to shine a light on what is needed for everyone in Ireland to live with dignity.
The Minimum Essential Standard of Living – or MESL for short – sets out to answer the question: What do people need to be able to live with dignity?
What is an acceptable minimum for everyone. A level that no one should be expected to live below, and which meets physical, psychological and social needs. In the MESL work we use the Consensual Budget Standards approach.
This process brings members of the public from different backgrounds together in Deliberative Focus Groups to discuss what is needed, working to discuss and agree the minimum goods & services that are needed to live and take part in society at a socially acceptable level.
We do this through working in multiple stages of in-depth discussions. Multiple groups meet, each building on the work of the previous group, to refine and produce a negotiated consensus on what people agree is essential.
The research places an emphasis on ‘needs, not wants’, and produces itemised baskets detailing the full range of goods & services required for individuals and households to have a minimum, but socially acceptable, standard of living.
The MESL research reflects the ideals which underpin the human right to an adequate standard of living, the Irish Government definition of poverty and social inclusion, and the key principle set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights that all have a right to an adequate minimum income which enables a life with dignity.
The MESL budget standards research translates these ideas into a practical benchmark. It produces itemised household budgets detailing average weekly cost of the goods and services that people have agreed are essential for enabling a life with dignity. The research findings cover approximately 90% of households in Ireland.
The MESL process involves deliberations with groups of people about what people and households require for a socially acceptable minimum standard of living.
Through multiple phases of deliberative focus groups, each building on the work of the last, the discussions draw on the lived experience of real people contributing their expertise on what individuals and households like them need.
In the research, groups of people from different types of households work together. We talk to them to understand the needs of their household type, so older people talk about their needs, working-age people tell us about what they need, and parents discuss the needs of both parents and children of different age-groups. We also look at the additional and different needs of Urban and Rural households.
The group discussions to establish the MESL go through a range of basket categories, carefully considering the needs and, how needs are to be met i.e., which products & services, the level of quality, etc., and where necessary deliberating on what is a need to have and what is a nice to have.
The focus is on establishing the needs, not wants, and compiling a comprehensive list of the goods and services required to meet these needs.
Through discussions they come to agreement on the lists of needs & items, across the multiple categories of expenditure.
The baskets cover the range of minimum needs, not just for survival but enough for people to participate in society and live with dignity. As such the contents of the basket are comprehensive and wide ranging; and vary according to the needs of different types of household.
There are thousands of items specified across the set of MESL baskets, and the groups have discussed what is needed and why these things are important.
We adjust the MESL expenditure needs dataset annually for all household types, to reflect changes in the prices of the goods and services included in the MESL baskets. The income calculations used in the MESL analysis are updated each year, incorporating all relevant changes to social welfare and taxation announced in the annual Budget.
The updated MESL data and accompanying analysis are normally published in June each year.
MESL updating schedule
| 2018 / 19 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Review & reprice | Adjust | Adjust
Reprice |
Adjust
Reprice |
Adjust
Reprice |
Reprice full basket | Review contents | Review contents |
| Food & Energy | Households with children | Households no children |
Regular repricing of the basket items is needed to ensure the accuracy of the MESL cost estimates over time. The standard annual update is based on inflation adjustments of unit prices and selective repricing. As part of the rolling update schedule, a full re-price of the basket items is due every third year.
The annual updating method limits inflation adjustments to a maximum of two years, repricing items in the third year. The intention is to limit the reliance on adjusted pricing data, improving the accuracy of the annual MESL series.
In years when repricing is not due the costs are adjusted for inflation. A refined adjustment methodology has been introduced from 2020, adjusting the basket costs by applying the most specific CPI sub-rate available at an item level. This approach makes use of 128 separate rates to adjust the unit price of each basket item at the most granular level possible, excluding the effect of price changes in the rest of the CPI basket. This approach refines the accuracy of the estimated MESL cost in the years between repricing the baskets.
To ensure the MESL data continues to reflect lived experience, remaining relevant and grounded in social consensus, it is necessary to engage with members of the public through deliberative focus groups, to review what is required for a MESL.
This process was last conducted by the MESL research team over the course of 2018/19, with the finalised data published in 2020.
MESL needs for households with children are due to be reviewed as part of the 2025 update, with deliberative focus groups commencing in the second half of 2024. The MESL needs of households without dependent children will then be reviewed for 2026.
We publish a MESL Update Report each year to accompany the update of the MESL expenditure needs data. The report presents a detailed analysis of the changing expenditure and income needs for a set of representative household types.
The Report provides timely information for any organisations which use the data in their ongoing work, and is timed to inform those engaging in the Pre-Budget process.
We regularly produce Technical and Working Papers which examine current relevant policy issues in a timely manner. These papers have examined areas such as the cost of childcare, home energy costs and estimating the MESL costs for families in Direct Provision.
The Research Centre makes a Pre-Budget Submission following the publication of the annual MESL update, highlighting key issues revealed by the data & analysis and making policy recommendations based on these findings. We also participate in the Department of Social Protection’s Pre-Budget Forum and in the National Economic Dialogue.
Submissions are also made to the Low Pay Commission using the MESL data to evaluate the adequacy of the National Minimum Wage.
Submissions are also made on an ongoing basis in response to relevant calls from Government.
We publish a Budget Impact Briefing each year, which examines the potential impact of the Social Welfare and personal tax measures announced in the annual Budget, in terms of MESL expenditure and income needs of a set of representative household types.