Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The ESRI published two reports yesterday although Deputy Donnelly referred to only one of them. Every year it publishes a report on what it terms the distributional impact of the budget measures, based on what it calls the Switch model. The ESRI also published a second report which studied the impact of social transfers on people at risk of poverty.

In the report on the distributional analysis the ESRI acknowledges that it is having difficulties with the Switch model. I acknowledge it is making some progress in expanding the coverage of that model. However, the ESRI accepts in the report that it is still experiencing difficulties in incorporating all of the budget measures within the model, particularly in assessing the impact on higher incomes. The ESRI has acknowledged that the model exaggerates the scale of the actual losses in the budget as it assumes more income is taxed and welfare payments fall behind average incomes. No one doubts, however, that all recent budgets have had a serious impact on the incomes of people in all parts of the country. Despite those difficulties we have managed to maintain core social welfare rates. There have been no cuts in the old age pension and we have not increased taxes-----

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