Yesterday's forum heard submissions from a wide range of organisations. Among the hundreds of Budget changes sought were the following:
Fund extra staff to expand marriage counselling and support services. ACCORD and Marriage and Relationship Counselling Services.
Increase social welfare payments by £5 a week with an extra £3 a week for an adult dependant. Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.
Give public service pensioners the "non-cash" benefits (e.g. free telephone rental, free electricity) available to other pensioners without a means test. The National Federation of Pensioners Associations.
Spend £5 million to make every public building accessible. Irish Council of People with Disabilities.
Increase the Back-to-School clothing and footwear allowance to £100 for primary school children and £150 for secondary school children. Crosscare.
Pay the Disability Allowance to people living in institutional care as well as to those in the community. National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland.
Allow lone parents to keep their entitlement to a rent allowance when they take part in training and back-to-work schemes. Parents' Alone Resource Centre.