Dr. Seán Healy:

We welcome the opportunity to discuss the impact of the budget and consider the issue of equality budgeting from that perspective. This committee will have a critically important role to play in the development of budgets in the years ahead. We will give an overall assessment of the budget and consider equality budgeting and how it might apply.

The budget sees modest improvements for some but fails to get to grips with the scale of the series of crises that need to be addressed. Ireland faces several persistent challenges. There are over 8,000 people, of whom 3,000 are children, without a home. Over 213,000 children, or nearly one in five, are at risk of poverty. One in three children is experiencing deprivation, while 128,000 are living in consistent poverty. Over 90,000 households are on housing waiting lists. There is also the two-tier health care system and the growing divide between those living in urban and rural areas. These are just some of the challenges. Everybody present could have a list of the serious challenges we face. While the budget shows some modest improvements, there is no sense that we are getting to grips with these challenges.

The tax changes could have been fairer. The Government insisted on using approximately one third of the money available to reduce taxation.

In our analysis of the budget we have circulated and sent to the committee - we have hard copies available for members - we show that the Government could-----