Pre-Budget Submission to the Department of Social Protection

Abstract

Irish political and public discourse has firmly shifted from recession to recovery. This rhetoric is supported by Exchequer accounts, with the Government announcing it expects a substantial surplus in this year’s budget.1 Yet for the families Barnardos works with every day, and hundreds of thousands more like them, the recession hasn’t gone away-it has gotten worse. The cumulative effect of years of successive cuts and lack of investment in basic services has pushed these families to the brink. Evidence of this is apparent in the sky rocketing child poverty rate, the rising number of families entering or at risk of homelessness and the high proportion of families who rely on social welfare or low-paid work to make ends meet. It is unacceptable that 11.7% of Irish children live in consistent poverty. Without meaningful intervention their futures are bleak. Adjustments to social welfare payments and increasing tax cuts will not have any long term impact on these children. Without the necessary investment in quality public services the economy may rise but the tide of poverty, disadvantage and inequality will continue to rise with it.