In this paper we seek to make use of the newly available Irish component of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) in order to develop a measure of consistent poverty that overcomes some of the difficulties associated with the original indicators employed as targets in the Irish National Anti-Poverty Strategy. Our analysis leads us to propose a set of economic strain indicators that cover a broader range than the original basic deprivation set. The accumulated evidence supports the view that a revised consistent poverty measure that combines a threshold of two or more economic strain items with income poverty at seventy per cent of median income, identifies those exposed to generalised deprivation arising from lack of resources in a manner consistent with their use as targets in the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. The consistently poor differ from others not only in relation to income poverty and economic strain but also in terms of exposure to a range of life-style deprivations and subjective economic pressures.