Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to this Bill and to congratulate the Minister for bringing in the largest social welfare budget in the history of the State. It is an extraordinary achievement which is based on how we have been able to borrow money to fund the essential services that my colleague has talked about. It includes wage subsidy schemes, Covid schemes and the pandemic unemployment scheme, all of which have been integral to maintaining not just people's incomes, but the social solidarity that is so important to us. Listening to some of these debates, one would wonder how our society became so unequal and difficult but of course we have these conversations against the backdrop of knowing that our society has one of the lowest income inequality rates across the OECD and not only have we had rising incomes, but we have had rising equality of incomes. That is because of our progressive tax base, our commitment to social transfers for people who need it, and an overwhelming commitment to employment, which is the single most important contributor to income equality and family supports. It is important that we put on the record of the House the work of Seamus Coffey, an economist at UCC and former chair of the Fiscal Advisory Council, on income inequality. At the end of his most recent report, he stated, regarding management of social transfers:

Everyone can have their own opinion on the best way forward, but they cannot have their own facts. Repeatedly stating that inequality is rising does not make it so. The outside world can see that income inequality has fallen in Ireland so isn’t it time we saw it ourselves?

The social welfare budget that the Minister is bringing forward is a significant contribution to maintaining equality at a difficult time for our people and country, and I congratulate the Minister.

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