Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. She spoke to that wider picture and I will speak to something I am looking to address in amendment No. 18, which I also understand has been ruled out of order but it relates to the same principle. The Minister mentioned target measures and I had sought a report on redistribution and as that amendment was ruled out of order, this request will not be eligible. There are some key principles. I welcome the fact that there are some universal measures here and also measures targeting those with greatest need. That has been important to the success of our social protection system. Again, while I have not always been happy with everything about it, in general it has had a role. Ireland has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the OECD; I think we are ranked 32nd of 35 countries regarding the gap between the high and low incomes.The figure that always gets attached to that whenever it is raised is before tax and transfers. We rely on the progressivity in our tax system and the redistributive role of the social protection system, and that protective role, to move from that huge income inequality towards something closer to ensuring a basic level of adequacy. That is something to be borne in mind with regard to those principles of progressivity, redistribution, equality and, crucially according to the MESL, adequacy. Those principles and their key role in our systems should be borne in mind.

I have concerns about some of the proposals for changes in the social protection system but today is not the day to discuss them. Those who have higher incomes may get higher rates of social welfare payments. That is moving away from the idea of having some universality and then targeting those with greatest need. If we instead give greater benefit to those who already have greater benefit, I worry we might be shifting the purpose of our social protection system. Those who have the most need often have the least resources. I used the figure of the bottom 10% earlier when discussing this with the Minister for Finance. There are lots of people who have €200,000 or €700,000 because they have a house. There are people who have cushions of some kind but the wealth of the bottom 10%, besides their weekly income, is €600. There is a cohort of families in Ireland who have no safety net when things go wrong for them. I would be worried if we started to shift the focus of the social protection system away from that. It is kind of a philosophical point but it is one we are going to be coming back to during the year ahead. I wanted to build on the correct points the Minister made about universal and targeted measures. Let us keep that as the focus of our social protection system.