Ireland has worst record of social welfare payouts

IRELAND has consistently spent less than any other EU country on social welfare as a percentage of GDP over the past decade, according to a new study.

Official EU figures show that Ireland has the worst record of all 15 EU member states when it comes to the amount it spends on social welfare payments.

In 2000, such payments to the unemployed, sick, elderly, homeless and disabled in Ireland amounted to just 14.1% of GDP, almost half the EU average of 27.3%.

The report shows that percentage of GDP spent by the Government on social welfare also decreased each year from 1992 up to 2000, despite Ireland enjoying the economic success of the Celtic Tiger boom for the second half of the last decade.

In 1992, social protection expenditure accounted for 20.3% of GDP before decreasing on a yearly basis to 14.1% in 2000.

The survey shows that the Government spent an average of €3,828 on social protection measures per head of population in 2000.

However, this figure compares unfavourably with the EU average of €6,155 and expenditure in Britain (€7,004), France (€6,954), Germany (€7,291) and Sweden (€9,055). Only Spain, Portugal and Greece spend less on social welfare payments per capita.

The results are likely to be another cause of embarrassment for the Government, notwithstanding regular increases in the annual budgets for departments like Health and Social and Family Affairs.

Fr Seán Healy of the Conference of Religious in Ireland, a long-term critic of social provision levels, said the statistics proved that expenditure on social welfare was insufficient to tackle the scale of the number of Irish people living in poverty.

"The study emphasises the importance of the Government honouring its targets on social welfare payments, even though it went in the opposite direction with the 2003 Budget," Fr Healy said.

"These figures show that we spend less on social welfare than anywhere else in the EU at a time when Ireland has one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe," he added.

The EU survey, Social Protection Expenditure and Receipts (1991-2000), also revealed that Irish employers pay less towards social protection measures than almost all of their European counterparts in percentage terms.

Irish employers contribute just 25% towards social protection budgets compared to the EU average of 38.3% Only employers in Denmark contribute less.