An increase in the Budget of at least £10 a month in child benefit is being sought by a number of anti-poverty organisations.
Mr David Silke, research officer of the Combat Poverty Agency, told the conference on child poverty that an increase in child benefit, paid directly to carers, was the most effective way of providing income support for families with children.
An increase of £15 for the first child, and increases to bring the second and third children to the same level over two years, would cost £204 million a year, which was on a par with the cost of proposals outlined in the report of the Commission on the Family, he said. Although costly, because it is paid for all children, child benefit had no poverty or unemployment traps and some of the cost could be offset by making it subject to taxation,
Mr Mark Seed, co-ordinator of the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland, also urged an increase in child benefit and Family Income Supplement thresholds of at least £10. He said the network had joined with other anti-poverty networks in a campaign, "Share the Wealth Now", which was calling for a number of urgent measures in the areas of rural exclusion, equality, income, the labour market and educational disadvantage.
Mr Fintan Farrell, president of the network, said if the Government decided to use tax credits as a way of supporting working families with child-care costs, it should invest an equivalent amount in child-care provision for those experiencing poverty and not in the tax system.
The Minister of State for Local Development, Mr Chris Flood, said improved availability of child care was a fundamental ingredient in redressing poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. It was also of value for the development of children themselves.
"It is widely recognised that quality child care can be of great benefit to children, particularly as an important social amenity facilitating access to a range of possibilities for those in disadvantaged communities," he said. He was deter- mined that the enclaves of deprivation would be targeted in a systematic way.