Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Shane Conneely:

We would have taken a similar position, that the cliff edges those families encounter are the principal issue. They have a second order effect as well because once those benefits have been claimed one becomes severely risk averse. Very often many challenges have been overcome to find a home and to find somebody who will accept the HAP payment. They do not want to put themselves at risk. We are seeing it again with the current refugee crisis. There are significant numbers of highly skilled people across the country who are vulnerable and who have come from a war zone. They want to participate but they cannot risk suddenly being without any other support at all. We would like to see that smoothed out.