Ms Michelle Murphy:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the opportunity to present our budget priorities which should be understood within the broader context of our Budget Choices policy briefing which has been circulated to all Members of the Oireachtas.

Inequality is hugely damaging to both individuals, society and the economy. Last year, after the provision of social welfare payments, there were almost 630,000 people living in poverty, including 180,000 children. Social Justice Ireland is of the view that a social welfare payment must provide an adequate safety net to lift people out of poverty and allow households to provide for a basic but decent standard of living. We warmly welcomed the programme for Government commitment to deliver progressive budgets during the lifetime of the Government. Central to achieving this aim is the benchmarking of social rates to average earnings. The benchmark set almost two decades ago is equivalent to about 27.5% of the average weekly earnings today. This would require an increase of €25 in all weekly social welfare payments. This is crucial to achieving the poverty target reductions in the roadmap for social inclusion and the successor to that roadmap. It is also crucial for closing the income gaps between households on low incomes, that is, those on fixed incomes or in lower-paid employment, and those households on higher incomes that have opened up in the past three to four years as a result of policy decisions. The recent cost-of-living measures, while providing immediate and welcome temporary relief, were one-off and low income households are still in a position now where the real value of their income is not the same as it was last year. Although inflation is falling, prices are still quite high, particularly for food, energy, and rent.

Beyond the benchmarking of core rates, which we believe is essential for delivering the progressiveness that the Government has promised, we are also calling for delivery on the programme for Government commitment to a cost-of-disability allowance payment. We believe a weekly payment is more appropriate than an annual one and suggest €20 per week as the starting point, to be built on in every budget. We also call for increases to child benefit and qualified child support payments, as well as delivery on the commitment to a carer's guarantee by increasing the domiciliary care allowance. We also urge the Government to determine what universal basic services and a universal income floor for carers might look like. I am conscious of time but there are other, more detailed proposals in the document already submitted to the committee.

In terms of rural and community development, we need investment in our regions and our social and economic infrastructure. We welcomed the commitment in the programme for Government to exploring regional economic development zones. That is really important given the different impacts that climate and digitalisation will have on different regions and the labour force across the country. Investment is key, including to mitigate against market failures in the delivery of goods and services in rural areas and to further deliver on the work that has been done on rural-proofing under the rural-proofing pilot. We would be looking for an investment of €100 million to roll out rural proofing, build regional resilience, further develop the remote working hub network, and develop the ETUs, in particular regional living labs, to help the regions come to the fore in the context of the new industries and sectors that are going to emerge in the coming years. In that way, we can keep young people in those communities. We are also calling for additional investment in the rural transport programme, active travel and also in targeting EV grants to rural dwellers. The key to reducing transport emissions is ultimately delivering on large-scale public transport projects and the all-island rail review but in the meantime, we need to ensure that EVs are actually being sold in the areas where people are making the longest journeys. We propose a fund focused on and targeted at rural dwellers with grants of between €3,500 and €10,000, with an additional grant for electric charging infrastructure.

Finally, in terms of community, we are looking for multi-annual funding for the sector to deliver pay increases and to appreciate the work that the sector does in terms of providing services for very vulnerable groups across the country. We would also ask for increased funding for youth work and youth services which provide vital places for young people to learn and grow.

We ask that in this budget the Government addresses the shortfall experienced by many youth services across the country.

Finally, in terms of rural and community development, we would like the budget to look at delivering an action plan to tackle loneliness and isolation which are becoming more prevalent issues. We also go into some detail in our budget briefing about revenue-raising measures and not just expenditure measures. It is important that the Government develops a broad, stable and sustainable tax base to prepare for any drop in the corporate tax take, which is probably coming in the medium term, and to deliver the services and social infrastructure for a growing and ageing population.