Dr. Tricia Keilthy:

To add to what Ms Petrie said in terms of appropriate benchmarks, average wages would be one option to look at. As Ms Petrie pointed out, we need to ensure that people are able to meet their living costs and that there is no gap between income and the cost of a minimum essential standard of living because that is what causes people to cut back and go without. That would be our experience in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. In terms of addressing the entire adequacy of the household, we cannot address child poverty unless we address adult rates and they are well below what is required to meet a minimum standard of living. They have remained at €203 for a number of years, which causes people on the lowest incomes to fall even further behind. In this budget, we need to build on the need to address adequacy by increasing core social welfare rates as well as the targeted supports for children and people living alone and to recognise the cost of disability.