The following motion was moved by Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett on Tuesday, 24 February 2015:"That Dáil Éireann: notes the incontrovertible evidence that the impact of austerity cuts and regressive charges since the economic crash in 2007/8 has contributed to a consistent rise in poverty, deprivation and hardship and that this situation has continued to worsen under the current Government; notes, in this regard, that:— the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) Survey on Income and Living Conditions shows the number of households suffering deprivation has risen from 24.5 per cent in 2011 to 30.5 per cent in 2013 and the number living in consistent poverty has risen from 6.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent; — the CSO also shows that the levels of deprivation and persistent poverty among one parent families are even more shocking, with the number of one parent families suffering deprivation rising from 49.5 per cent in 2012 to 63.2 per cent in 2013 and the number living in consistent poverty rising from 17.4 per cent to 23 per cent in the same period; — according to Barnardos, in 2013, 12 per cent of children (aged 0-17 years) lived in consistent poverty - up more than 137,000 from 9.9 per cent in 2012 and double the 6 per cent figure of 2008; — UNICEF found that child poverty rose by 10 per cent to 28.6 per cent between 2008- 2012, an increase of 130,000 more children living in poverty; — poverty among older people rose from 1.1 per cent to 1.9 per cent between 2009 and 2011; the deprivation rate has increased from 9.5 per cent to 11.3 per cent over the same period and deprivation among older people living alone is even higher at 15.3 per cent; — the Age Action survey on Budget 2014 found 90 per cent of respondents said 487 budgetary measures affecting older people were unfair, noting prescription charges, telephone allowance, changes in income limits for medical cards, property tax, fuel allowance and other recent budgetary measures; — according to the CSO, 45 per cent of people with disabilities experience income poverty and 36 per cent of people with disabilities experience basic deprivation; — Social Justice Ireland states that a total of 750,000 people, including more than 232,039 children, are living in poverty in Ireland; — according to the Irish League of Credit Unions 480,000 people have no money at the end-of-month after paying bills and 1.7 million have €100 or less; and — 16 per cent of adults with an income below the poverty line are working and that according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Employment Outlook 2013 22 per cent of Irish workers are low-paid (earning less than two-thirds of the country’s median income), the second highest level of low-pay in the OECD;notes an explosion in the housing and homelessness crisis over the last three years, resulting from rent increases, changes to rent allowance, evictions, and a chronic shortage of council and social housing - leading in turn to a dramatic increase in time waiting on housing lists (up to 14 years), families being forced into inappropriate emergency accommodation, and a 21 per cent rise in the number of people sleeping rough; further notes that:— shocking increases in poverty, deprivation and hardship have occurred at the same time that total net household wealth in Ireland has increased, corporate profits have risen, and a small minority of top earners continue to enjoy extremely high earnings; and — significant evidence exists suggesting that a very wealthy minority at the top of Irish society have been fully insulated from the deprivation and hardship suffered by so many Irish citizens;notes, in this regard, that:— according to the Central Bank (Quarterly Bulletin Q4 2014) total net household wealth in Ireland stood at €508 billion, marking its seventh consecutive rise since the second quarter of 2012 - an increase of 13.7 per cent in total household wealth; and — while no definitive statistics on the distribution of this wealth are currently kept by the Department of Finance, a number of reports and analyses exist which all point to a heavy concentration of this wealth in the hands of a small percentage of the wealthiest households and individuals;notes, for example, that:— the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2014 states the wealthiest 1 per cent of households own 27.3 per cent of all wealth, the top 10 per cent own 58.5 per cent of all wealth and that there are currently 92,000 millionaires in Ireland; — Think-tank for Action on Social Change estimates, based on an Economic and Social Research Institute study carried out in 1991 and extrapolated onto current total wealth figures, that the top 5 per cent of households hold 28.7 per cent of all wealth (i.e. 82,919 households hold €145 billion), 10 per cent of households hold 42.3 per cent of all wealth (i.e. 165,824 households hold €215 billion) whereas the bottom 50 per cent of households (829,122) hold just 12.2 percent of this wealth (€62 billion); — the CSO’s Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2013 suggested that the top 20 per cent of incomes have almost 40 per cent of the wealth, while the bottom 20 per cent have only 11.4 per cent; — Social Justice Ireland states that the richest 10 per cent of households received 24 per cent of total disposable income, whereas the poorest 10 per cent of households received only 3 per cent of total disposable income; — the deeply unequal distribution of wealth suggested by the above is broadly in line with the rest of Europe, where the European Central Bank’s 2013 Household and Finance and Consumption Survey shows a similar distribution of wealth across Europe, where the wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold 50.4 per cent of all household wealth and the top 5 per cent hold 37.2 per cent; — according to the Department of Finance, the top 1 per cent (21,650) of earners have an annual gross income of €8.7 billion, with average earnings of €403,703 per year - more than ten times the average industrial wage; and — according to the Revenue Commissioners latest available statistics, corporate profits are also increasing, with gross trade profits increasing to €73.8 billion in 2011 up from €70.8 billion in 2010;resolves to:— abolish all tax measures that are regressive in nature or that disproportionately affect those on lower incomes particularly water charges, property tax and the Universal Social Charge for those earning less than €35,000; — reverse all the cuts to One Parent Family Payment recipients including the abolition of concurrent payments, changes to the income disregard and the phasing out of payments to those with children over seven years of age; — reverse all cuts to the Child Benefit payments; — urgently establish a comprehensive and affordable early childcare programme; — restore the full rate of Jobseeker's Allowance to people under 26 years of age; — abolish individual prescription charges; — reverse the cuts to the telephone allowance, the fuel allowance and the Household Benefits Package; — reverse the cut to the Respite Care Grant; — fund an emergency programme to directly build a minimum of 10,000 council houses per year over the next five years and put adequate appropriate emergency accommodation in place to end the homelessness crisis; and — introduce rent controls and to increase rent support to a level that ensures no one is made homeless or forced into poverty by unaffordable accommodation costs;and calls on the Minister for Finance to:— instruct his Department to immediately draw up a programme for financing the measures above with taxes that focus on wealth, profits and top earners; and — ensure that all budgetary measures considered in future will be subject to poverty and deprivation impact analysis before being implemented."

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