Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, I thank the witnesses for their presentations and detailed submissions. There is a huge amount in them for us to digest and work on and, hopefully, much of that will make its way into our final pre-budget submission. It is only right to say that, surely, of all the people affected in the pandemic, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Family Carers Ireland are voices for some of those who have been most affected. This is particularly the case with lone parents when they were trying to cope with home schooling and the effect it must have had on their work, mental health and the pressure they are under. Parenting within our household was challenging, but for a lone parent, particularly somebody struggling with poverty, it must have been close to unbearable. Similarly, it must have been so difficult for carers, without the ability to access services or respite, to see light at the end of the tunnel. I absolutely accept that sense of hurt put across by Ms Cox in possibly feeling abandoned during the pandemic.

I will direct my first questions to Ms Petrie. We have identified those groups most at risk, which tend to be children living in poverty, lone parents and people living with disability. These tend to be the people at most risk of persistent poverty. Last year's budget went down the road of targeted supports about which I see much discussion. Ms Petrie cited the Citizens' Assembly recommendation on social welfare payments. I have a two-pronged question on this. In terms of tackling poverty in the groups to which the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is providing services, in Ms Petrie's opinion is it better to do this through targeted measures, as was attempted in the last budget, or is raising social welfare payments across the board a more effective way of tackling the problem? That is a thorny issue.

If we are looking at an increase in the base rates, they should be index-linked and should not be a political football year on year, where we discuss the fiver in the pension or the fiver in the base rate. If we are to look at setting a new baseline for our social welfare payments, where would the Society of St. Vincent de Paul pitch that? Would it be pitched at a percentage of the average industrial wage or does the society have a set figure in mind in terms of, for example, the €203 for jobseeker's allowance? I will leave it at that. There is enough in that question to allow Ms Petrie time to reply.