CORI: 'Budget hits working poor and children hardest'

Working poor and children were the worst hit in this year’s Budget, a leading anti-poverty charity claimed today.

The CORI Justice Commission said the most vulnerable groups will be pushed over the poverty line by the new 1% income levy and a failure to increase child benefit.

Director Fr Sean Healy said while social welfare recipients were the only ones to gain, every group will be worse off in real terms.

“Government policy should be supporting people trying to get out of poverty but instead these initiatives are bringing them deeper into it,” he said.

“More children and more working poor households will now be at risk of poverty next year than this year.

“The Government has failed to protect the vulnerable.”

In the group’s Budget analysis, Fr Healy said 30% of poor households headed by people with a job will be taxed for the first time.

However, Fr Healy said he supported the controversial decision to means-test medical cards for the over 70s.

“The Government got this wrong originally as some people were given ’gold cards’ who wouldn’t qualify on the basis of low income,” he said

“But we thought the most sensible thing was to introduce the new measure for new applicants only.”

An individual or couple earning €15,000 a year will be €150 a year worse off because of the levy.

The failure to raise child benefit means that the value of the payment falls by 2.5%.

The group, which participated in social partnership talks, said an increase in most social welfare payments will be swallowed up by the spiralling cost of living.

It claimed the increase fails to compensate for the rising cost of food which low income families spend a disproportionate amount of their income on.

“Poorer people spend a lot more on food and the prices keep climbing,” he said.

“The Government did not provide the increases needed to meet these costs.”

The gap between the rich and poor has been widened by €11.13 a week due to budgetary measures.

It welcomed a commitment to develop 200 primary care teams, social housing allocations and changes to tax relief on dental treatment.

“There were good things and bad things in the Budget, but overall we believe that it failed to protect the vulnerable in the manner or on the scale required,” he added.