Call for measures to aid low paid and excluded

Further reductions in personal taxation and a package to foster social inclusion are among the Budget measures being demanded by the community and voluntary pillar of Partnership 2000.

The pillar is made up of eight organisations, including the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, the Conference of Religious in Ireland, the National Youth Council of Ireland and the St Vincent de Paul.

They participate along with employers, unions and farmers in negotiating national pay agreements.

The group is calling for increases in the standard-rated personal tax-free allowances with some increase in the standard rate band.

"Other measures to make work more rewarding for the lower paid will include completion of the move to tax credits and an increase in the thresholds for Family Income Supplement in line with tax cuts," a spokesperson said.

On social inclusion, the group of voluntary organisations said the Budget should deliver increases in all basic social welfare payments to bring them in line with increases in average incomes.

It also calls on the Government to ensure that disadvantaged areas benefit from mainstream investment.

It said tax relief was not the way to go on the childcare crisis. "A substantial increase in child benefit, coupled with a taxable parent's childcare payment, is the only equitable mechanism for supporting all parents."

If these demands were met in the Budget, it would go a long way to consolidate the support of these organisations for any new national agreement, a spokesperson for the group said.