Social welfare payments ‘€38 below poverty line’

SOCIAL welfare payments need to increase by €38 weekly to pull recipients over the poverty line, a Catholic organisation has warned.

The Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) says by the Government’s own calculations, the poverty threshold stands at €203.55 weekly for a single person yet most weekly assistance payments to single people are €165.80.

In its annual socio-economic review published yesterday, CORI’s Justice Commission says poverty remains a major problem in Irish society despite the decade of economic boom.

Director of CORI Justice, Fr Sean Healy, said one-in- five of the population (19.4%) had incomes below the poverty line, a worsening of the situation that existed in 1994 when the figure was 15.6%.

Those most likely to be at risk of poverty are the long-term ill and people with disabilities, 50% of whom are living below the poverty line. The unemployed are next with 37% having inadequate income.

Some 26% of full-time homemakers, and in particular women in that category, fall below the poverty threshold as do 26% of retired people — a massive leap from 8.2% in 1994.

The report shows that 21.9% of children are in similar circumstances. “The scale of this statistic is shocking. Given that our children are our future, this is not acceptable,” Fr Healy said.