Increase needed in social welfare payments, says Social Justice Ireland

Equality think tank Social Justice Ireland has renewed its call for a €20 weekly increase in all core social welfare payments rather than the €12 provided for in Budget 2023.

The budget had “widened the gap between those on core welfare rates and those on €100,000 by €199”, organisation chief executive Dr Seán Healy said. “Consequently Social Justice Ireland calls on Government in the forthcoming Social Welfare Bill to raise core social welfare rates by a further €8 a week, thus providing them with the basic increase of €20 a week that was required in Budget 2023 to simply maintain their current position.”

He was speaking on the publication of the think tank’s latest study, Poverty Focus 2022, on Monday. People who are unable to work due to an illness or disability have the highest risk of poverty in Irish society, with almost two in five people in this cohort living in poverty, according to the study.

This group is being left further behind, with poverty increasing among those unable to work due to an illness or disability despite a “welcome reduction in the overall poverty rate”, the study found.

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“People unable to work due to an illness or disability are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. There is an ongoing need for targeted policies to assist this group, starting with the introduction of a cost-of-disability payment,” said Susanne Rogers, research and policy analyst with the organisation.

“It seems only logical that if people with a disability are to be equal participants in society, the extra costs generated by their disability should not be borne by them alone. Society at large should act to level the playing field by covering those extra but ordinary costs. Doing so would also address the very high poverty rates among this group.”

The report found one in nine people in Ireland has an income below the poverty line. Based on the most recent Census data, this corresponds to almost 595,000 people.

Those not employed due to permanent illness or disability are among those at highest risk of poverty This group’s at risk of poverty rate is eight times that of workers, three times that of the retired and three times that of children.

Some 160,000 children lived in households that were experiencing poverty. When poverty is analysed by age 11.9 per cent of those aged above 65 years live in relative income poverty – about 71,000 pensioners.

About 93,000 workers are at risk of poverty, 4.4 per cent of those who are employed. Poverty figures for the working poor have shown little movement over time, reflecting a persistent problem with low earnings, according to the study.

“The impact of inflation is most severe on lower-income households. Short-term budgetary measures, while welcome, will increase inequality if income adequacy is not properly addressed,” Dr Healy said.