The widening gap between rich and poor must be addressed by the Government's anti-inflationary measures, the CORI Justice Commission has said.
CORI, the Conference of Religious of Ireland, will be making recommendations on this issue to the Government and social partners at Thursday's meeting on the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF).
"Social partnership must not be allowed to become a vehicle whereby the gap between poor people and the better-off is allowed to widen," said a CORI spokesman.
The group has said that, given the current inflationary situation, the protection of the living standards of the poor can only be achieved within the budget process.
At Thursday's meeting CORI will make a number of proposals aimed at addressing the problems of those on low pay and on social welfare:
raising the minimum social welfare payment to £100 per week in year two rather than year three of the PPF.
speeding up the movement towards £100-per-month child benefit payment for the third and subsequent children.
increasing tax credits to take people on minimum wage out of the tax net.
substantially increasing the number of local authority houses.
addressing the issue of childcare for those on low incomes.