Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a distributional analysis for the measures contained in budget 2015; if she is unable or unwilling to provide same and if she will provide her reasoning on this; her views that all budgetary measures should be equality proofed; and when will this be implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43355/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Social impact assessment is an evidence-based methodology which uses a tax/welfare simulation model developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to estimate the likely distributive effects of budgetary measures on income and social inequalities. The Department has previously published social impact assessments (using the ESRI Switch model) of the main welfare and tax measures in Budgets 2013 and 2014 and these are available on the departmental website.

The Department has examined the impact of the main welfare Budget measures announced on Budget Day and is currently preparing a social impact assessment of the main welfare, tax and other measures for 2015. This will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels.

This will be published in due course and will be informed by the current consideration by the Government of additional measures in relation to the introduction of charging for water services and the proposed amendment in the current Social Welfare Bill in relation to maintaining the income disregard for One-Parent Family Payment recipients at €90 per week.

A recent ESRI and Equality Authority report examined in detail the gender impact of tax and welfare policy changes between 2009 and 2013. This report shows the potential for the use of a microsimulation model in assessing the gender impact of policy changes.