Fall in risk of poverty highlights three key issues for Government in Budget 2010

 
The fall in the risk of poverty is very welcome. However it highlights three key issues for Government in Budget 2010:

1. Reducing social welfare rates will lead to increases in poverty
2. The working poor issue must be addressed
3. The regional differences in poverty are dramatic.

Social Justice Ireland has welcomed the reduction in Ireland’s poverty rate outlined in the CSO publication - Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2008 and claimed that the reduction vindicates the campaign conducted for many years to increase the lowest social welfare rates. The new statistics published by the Central Statistics Office show that without social welfare payments 43% of Ireland’s population would be in poverty. After social welfare payments are made that number is now down to 14.4%. In 2004 there were 19.4% in poverty.  The increases in social welfare rates in the intervening years made all the difference. These figures show clearly that if Government were to reduce welfare rates in Budget 2010 then poverty would increase and the most vulnerable in Irish society would suffer unnecessarily.
Social Justice Ireland pointed out that the CSO study shows that:

• 40% of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person WITH a job (31.3% in 2007; 29.5% in 2006). These are the working poor. Government has failed to take the necessary initiatives to tackle this working poor issue.
• Almost half of all those at risk of poverty (47.8%) live in households headed by a person who is outside the labour force (i.e. people who are older or ill, or have a serious disability or are in caring roles). This highlights the need for Government to stop ignoring the ‘working poor’ issue and to put policies in place that ensure that people with jobs are not in poverty.
• There are huge regional disparities. While 10% of the population in Dublin and the Mid-East regions are at risk of poverty, the midlands has 23.5% of its population in poverty closely followed by the mid-west (22%) and the Western Region (17.2%). This highlights the need for Government to tackle the issue of poverty in the regions. The reduction in services in these areas is adding to the problems they face. Cutting services in Budget 2010 will worsen this situation further.
• These results draw attention to the need for Government to have a real anti-poverty focus in Budget 2010.

Social Justice Ireland noted that Government has said it is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in these difficult economic times. If it is to do this credibly then Social Justice Ireland now urges Government:

• Do not reduce social welfare rates in Budget 2010.
• Take initiatives to tackle the working poor issue, the rising level of unemployment and issues such as food poverty that were not addressed in Budget 2009.
• Take action to address the huge regional differences in poverty rates.

Social Justice Ireland has published detailed proposals for Budget 2010 which address these issues. This proposals can be accessed here.