The Society of St Vincent de Paul wants an increase of 16 per cent in the lowest rates of social welfare to ensure that the poorest households in the State receive at least half the average national income. In a new social policymanifesto it has also called for wide-ranging initiatives to eliminate "structural poverty" in areas such as housing, education and health.
"We must insist on a society that is inclusive for everyone and where there are no `golden circles' for the selected few," the SVP president, Mr Noel Clear, said in Dublin yesterday.