The gap between rich and poor cannot be allowed to grow and recent statistics have shown that Ireland is the worst in the EU with regard to looking after the least well-off in society, despite boasting from time to time that we are the third or fourth wealthiest country in the world. The poor are expected the bear the burden of the Government's mismanagement of the resources which were available during the Celtic tiger years. The position now is that the Government has widened the gap between rich and poor by €266 per week, according to the CORI justice commission figures. That document, produced since the budget, is in the public domain. The minimal increases in social welfare are unfair and unjust. The Minister for Finance's claim that the budget was aimed at supporting the most vulnerable in society is blatantly false.