The Justice Commission of the Conference of Religious of Ireland has called on the Government to launch a Green Paper on the introduction of a basic income system. This follows the publication of research showing such a move would help to reduce poverty.
The last of three studies on the issue commissioned by a Government-sponsored working group on basic income was published at the weekend.
Each concluded that a basic income system - under which every man, woman and child in the Republic would receive an untaxed weekly payment regardless of their earnings - would have a more positive impact on reducing poverty than the present tax and welfare systems.
Welcoming the findings, Father Sean Healy of CORI's Justice Commission said the Government should now publish a Green Paper on basic income, as it had promised it would.
Implementation of this commitment, he said, had been delayed pending receipt of the working group's report, which was based on the findings of the three studies. Among the authors of the studies were the Economic and Social Research Institute and the economics department at NUI Maynooth.
The ESRI study showed a basic income system would improve the incomes of seven out of 10 households in the poorest 40 per cent of the population. Over a three-year implementation period, there would be certain "losers" who would not gain as much under basic income as they would under the present system.
However, Father Healy said these people "can be easily targeted and compensated".
He added: "The choice between a basic income system and conventional tax-welfare options is a trade-off between greater equity and a risk of lower economic growth versus less equity and less risk to higher economic growth. At a time when so much concern is expressed about the country's growth rate being unsustainable, the argument in favour of introducing a basic income system is further strengthened."
