Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection

Social Enterprise in Ireland: Discussion

1:50 pm

Ms Louise Bayliss:

The bottom quantile have suffered more than any other in the most recent budgets. That is factual.

On some of the other points raised, I take on board what the Chairman said about income equality. That is one of our biggest concerns, but there are other issues, including access to public services. However, I agree with the Chairman that income inequality is affecting people in every sector in their day to day living. As the Chairman rightly pointed out, a two-parent family with a mortgage could be equally as poor as a lone parent and dividing it like that can sometimes be blunt. What we are trying to achieve is income equality.