Ms Caroline Fahey:

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, SVP, welcomes the opportunity to make a presentation on its pre-budget submission 2017. Through direct and personal contact with those in need, SVP members see how inadequate incomes, both for those in low-paid work and those are reliant on social welfare payments, as well as a lack of access to quality services damage people's prospects and lives. In 2015, each of our eight regional offices across the country received more than 2,300 calls for help every week. Our 11,000 volunteer members visit people in their homes throughout Ireland. They see at first hand how the housing and homelessness crisis, child poverty, educational disadvantage and the constant struggle of trying to make ends meet on a low income affect individuals and families.

In 2014, we spent more than €14 million providing direct assistance to households through visiting people in their homes.

Cash assistance, vouchers and food accounted for more than half of this expenditure, while €8.8 million was spent on helping households with their energy costs and €4.6 million on education costs. Our expenditure direct to households in need has increased by 27% since 2009. This might be expected, given the extent of the cuts that have happened to low-income households.

Working for social justice is a cornerstone of SVP's mission and work, alongside home visitation and empowering people to access education, training and other supports. We are called to challenge the social injustices we see, to engage with Government and policy makers to propose solutions and to advocate for social change. SVP welcomes the fall in unemployment and the return to economic growth in recent years. We believe social and economic progress must go hand in hand, with investment in quality public services and income supports yielding benefits to both the economy and the common good.

Our pre-budget submission for 2017 focuses on four priority areas, namely, income adequacy, which is of most interest to the committee; housing and homelessness, which has become a major issue for us and every organisation working in the area; early years, child care and after school care; and affordable energy and energy poverty, which Ms Feely talked about.

In the area of income adequacy, we are particularly concerned about families with children, given that it is the largest group we assist, particularly one-parent families. One-parent families experience the highest rates of poverty and deprivation. In 2014, more than one in five lone parents were experiencing consistent poverty, living in a household with a low income and going without basics such as adequate food and the right kind of clothing for the weather. Almost 60% experienced material deprivation. That figure is scandalous given that they are households with children. Some 11.2% of children are living in consistent poverty. The Government has made a commitment to lifting 97,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020, which is a very ambitious target and one we are working towards achieving. We believe tackling poverty among one-parent families is key if this ambitious target is to be met.

The reforms to the one-parent family payment implemented during recent years have resulted in both winners and losers. Unfortunately, it appears that there have been more losers than winners, and for those who have gained, it has been at the expense of other low-income households. Many of those who have lost out because of the reform have been lone parents in employment. I have outlined in my written submission to the committee the main concerns with the reforms that lone parents have highlighted to us. For time reasons I will not go through them now, but I am happy to take any questions that arise. One parent affected by the reforms told us:

My income decreased drastically by about €80 per week. That is what I pay for child care for the week, and unless I quit my job, I cannot save on child care. I try to save on food because it seems to be the only expense I have any control over, so they have literally taken food from my daughter's mouth. I am full of rage simply because this is being sold as a measure to support lone parents into work and education.

I will outline our policy priorities for the Minister for Social Protection in the budget 2017. We ask the Government to allow lone parents in employment whose children are aged between seven and 14 to receive both the jobseeker's transition, JST, payment and family income supplement, FIS, if they meet the qualifying criteria. We are asking for this because for lone parents with younger children, the one-parent family payment, OFP, and FIS are paid together and lone parents in that situation would also receive fuel allowance. However, when the youngest child in the household turns seven, there is a significant loss of income as working lone parents must choose between getting FIS or the jobseeker's transition payment. Child care costs do not change much between when a child is six and seven. They are very significant, and that is why we are requesting this change.

We are also asking that the jobseeker's transition payment and the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, maintenance grant be payable to lone parents who are undertaking a course of education for the duration of the course regardless of the age of their youngest child. This is currently payable to lone parents of children aged under 14, which is a great support for lone parents considering taking up education or training. However, lone parents whose youngest child is aged over 14 must transfer to the back to education allowance, BTEA, in order to maintain their incomes, and people in receipt of this cannot claim the maintenance grant, which is worth over €100 per week to someone living far away from college.

Lone parents in receipt of rent supplement must decide whether to remain in receipt of the OFP or JST and receive the maintenance grant but lose their rent supplement or transfer to the BTEA and keep their rent supplement. The complications of the system are evident from this, as are the barriers to lone parents living in rent supplement accommodation taking up education and training.

We recommend that lone parents in this situation should be allowed to retain their one-parent family payment or jobseeker's transitional payment and their rent supplement and also receive the maintenance grant for the duration of their education and training course. We advise that any increases in child benefit payment should be targeted towards children aged 12 years and older in recognition of the high costs faced by families with older children. The decision to remove child benefit from 18 year olds in full-time education has placed a heavy burden on families, particularly those on low incomes. We request that the current rates relating to the fuel allowance and the household benefits package be protected and that the personal micro-credit initiative be supported and adequately funded. In that regard, we welcome the decision to roll out that pilot scheme across all credit unions in Ireland as a much more affordable alternative to money lenders.

Our policy priorities for the Minister for Social Protection should be read in the context of our entire pre-budget submission, which emphasises investment in public services and supports over reducing taxes. It also seeks a balance between investing in public services and income supports in order to tackle poverty and improve the lives of the people we assist.