The third of households with the lowest incomes receive the bulk of welfare benefits, such as free electricity, gas, TV licences and telephone rental, a study shows. However, the benefits from such free schemes as well as the medical-card scheme assist the elderly more than the working poor, the unemployed or large families, according to the report.
The research, published yesterday by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), reveals that 61 per cent of spending on the medical-card scheme went to the 30 per cent of households with the lowest incomes. Sixty-five per cent of benefits from the free schemes went to the same group.
The report, Non-Cash Benefits and Poverty in Ireland, was commissioned by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and written by Prof Brian Nolan and Dr Helen Russell. It was based on data from the 1997 Living in Ireland Survey, also conducted by the ESRI. The report values the weekly benefits from the free schemes in cash terms in 1997 as up to £11, with an average of about £11 for the medical card scheme. Today, they would be worth about £12 each, according to Dr Nolan.
Free schemes are non-cash welfare benefits including free electricity or gas, free TV licence, free travel and telephone rental. They are generally available to the elderly, carers and the disabled.
The free schemes and medical cards are "much more effective in assisting some low-income households rather than others. The elderly benefited to a much greater extent than the working poor, the unemployed and large families," the report says.
The report says the concentration of these benefits among the elderly was due to both the eligibility criteria for free schemes and the fact that the authors assigned a higher value for the medical card to older age groups to reflect their greater use of health services.
The study was launched yesterday by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, who said free schemes were "an integral part of the growing range of State services and resources aimed at supporting the vulnerable in our communities".