It is unacceptable that up to onethird of Irish children live in poverty when the Budget surplus is expected to top £900 million, the Combat Poverty Agency has said.
The agency yesterday called on the Government to increase monthly Child Benefit (Children's Allowance) by £10 to £15 a month at a cost of £204 million a year.
It also said that people on social welfare should receive a minimum of £73.95 a week. Social welfare payments should rise in line with average earnings, which would mean a 5.5 per cent increase in the Budget. And it called for the introduction of a means-tested scheme of "housing income supports" for which both employed and unemployed people could apply.
Ireland has the second-highest national rate of child poverty in the European Union, the agency's director, Mr Hugh Frazer, said when outlining the submission.
"This year we want to see the introduction of real measures to invest in children and to help tackle poverty seriously", he said. "In this regard, the Budget is the single most important tool by which the Government reflects its priorities for action."
Child poverty was a "persistent and worsening problem" in the State, Mr Frazer said.
He called for investment in child care which, he said, would "help to combat poverty by tackling educational disadvantage, allowing women to return to work and alleviating family stress and social exclusion".
Vouchers to help low-income families pay for child care are among the measures recommended in the agency's pre-Budget submission. But the agency opposes tax relief for child-care expenses. It says: "The benefit of such relief is concentrated in middle and high earners and may be of no help to those on low pay or social welfare."
Tackling educational disadvantage is a crucial element in tackling poverty and social exclusion, according to the submission. Measures in this area should include:
Expand the Early Start preschool programme.
Introduce the Breaking the Cycle programme to more schools. Under this programme selected schools are given extra resources.
Extend the school meals scheme to all low-income families.
Double spending on adult literacy and community education to £8 million.
More than £90 million is expected to be paid in rent and mortgage supplements to welfare recipients under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme this year, the submission states.
According to the agency, the cost of these supplements has been escalating, and this cannot be sustained. It wants measures taken to increase the availability of private rented accommodation and suggests that the State should look at introducing formal agreements with landlords to keep rents down and improve accommodation. It says that a formal, means-tested housing income support scheme would make the subsidisation of housing more transparent.
On income tax, it calls for increases of £1,000 in personal allowances for single people and £2,000 for married couples.