The St Vincent de Paul Society has issued a strongly-worded appeal to the Government for a Budget "aimed at attacking the structural nature of poverty and marginalisation which still persist in Ireland." The society pointed out that "the number of people unemployed is still the same as it was five years ago."
Mr Noel Clear, national St Vincent de Paul president, said that no civilised country should tolerate the levels of poverty and deprivation still suffered by so many. "We're calling today for fundamental structural changes in the areas of education, housing and taxation policy, as well as increased support in a number of key areas within the social welfare system.
"There is an added urgency to our call, since 1998 is probably the peak of the current economic cycle," Mr Clear said, and thus "the last chance for some time to make the changes needed."
He noted that Ireland still has the second-highest rate of child poverty in the EU; nearly 40,000 on housing lists; 34,000 on hospital waiting lists; and 16 per of the school-going population suffering educational disadvantage.
A recent study had shown that "people living solely on long-term social welfare payments spend 9095 per cent of their incomes on food, shelter and clothing. These figures are similar to those for some developing countries and reflect absolute rather than relative poverty."
The society is demanding that in this Budget the Minister "target resources available for tax relief exclusively at those on lower incomes, via higher personal allowances and widening of the bands".
It says the Budget should "begin a process to ensure that those dependent on long-term social welfare become entitled to much higher income by linking payments to the minimum wage, without detracting from the need to make movement from welfare to work attractive".
The society demands a substantial increase in children's allowance to "ensure there is an end to child poverty". It wants an increase to £100 a month taxed at the earner's marginal rate.
It also wants the medical card to be made available to all children under 18, with the thresholds for the card to be raised by 10 per cent. It demands immediate measures to reduce hospital waiting lists.