A call has been made for the State to appoint a Minister with specific responsibility to combat loneliness as it emerged that “Ireland is actually the loneliest place in Europe”.

Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly said official figures show that 20 per cent of Irish people have reported feeling lonely most or all of the time, the highest level in the EU, where the average is just 13 per cent.

“Even the figure of 13 per cent is fairly shocking,” she said, adding that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has a commission on social connection to address loneliness which it has described as a “pressing health threat”.

Ms O’Reilly called for the appointment of a Minister specifically to deal with loneliness. The Greens want every local authority to “prepare a local strategy to combat loneliness through the use of libraries, public buildings, sports partnerships and public participation networks”.

And she said loneliness should be measured annually. “We do not want to wait five to six years when this is such a threat to public health.”