‘Give welfare savings from rich to poor’

MONEY saved from cuts to child benefit paid to those on higher incomes should be used to increase payment to those on lower incomes, Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said yesterday.

“Those who have higher incomes and are still getting child benefit should make a contribution to increasing child benefit for those who have nothing,” he suggested.

Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has indicated three levels of child benefit may be introduced in the December budget. She said people on lower incomes were identifiable and Revenue would be asked to identify those on higher incomes.

While she did not believe a woman should lose child benefit completely, the Government needed to be fair in how it was distributed.

At the launch of Barnardos’s Yes/No campaign against child poverty, Mr Finlay said the charity had urged the Government to exclude those on social welfare and Family Income Supplement from cuts in child benefit.

He said research just published by Barnardos clearly indicated that child benefit had played a significant role in reducing child poverty.

“It is imperative that Budget 2010 does not make cuts to supports that will result in more children living in disadvantage and poverty, or make life even harder for those already experiencing deprivation,” he stressed.

“We are pleased at indications that Minister Hanafin has listened but remain concerned that it will be an uphill battle to protect children living in poverty ahead of the budget from cabinet cuts,” he said.

Ms Hanafin said on RTÉ’s Frontline programme that she saw her role as protecting the most vulnerable.

“Well, she has not been fantastically successful so far,” said Mr Finlay. “If you have to make cuts, you start from the position that those who are most vulnerable must be most protected.”

Mr Finlay said to “simply cut off the top” of child benefit “would have a hugely disproportionate impact on families that depend most on it”.

He indicated he would not be averse to some income tax being raised to sustain child benefit: “I do not think, despite the propaganda, Ireland is a hugely overtaxed country. There are many elements of our income tax system that are unfair and unbalanced.

“I, for one, do not know why the Government has set its face against any suggestion that tax can play a part in resolving the problem that we have at the moment.”