The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) spent €31 million last year fighting poverty and social exclusion, its president said today.
Speaking at the launch of the Society's annual report and appeal this afternoon, Mr Brian O'Reilly said it was a "sad fact" that the need for its services was "still as vital now as it was in 1844 when the society was set up."
The SVP received 12,000 calls for help from members of the public in the first nine months of this year, up 300 per cent since 2002.
It called on the Government to improve social welfare and employment supports in Wednesday's budget and to address chronic housing and accommodation needs. SVP also want inequalities in the health service removed and educational disadvantage tackled.
Mr O'Reilly said the extremely favourable economic climate in Ireland made it imperative that "we grasp the opportunity to deal decisively with poverty and social exclusion."
He called on the Government to increase the minimum adult social welfare rate by at least €15 per week, take people on the minimum wage out of the tax system and provide a minimum of 8,500 units of social housing next year. There are currently 60,000 households on local authority waiting lists.
The SVP is also calling for free morning education to be provided to all three year olds, an increase of €70 per year in the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, and for an additional 100,000 medical cards.
Launching the society's annual appeal, running from December 5th - 12th, Mr O'Reilly stressed the importance of public donations in enabling the SVP to carry out its work. "We ask people to continue to support us in the season of goodwill. We can, with your help, do something wonderful for people in need," he said.