The Government Savings Programme will widen the gap between rich and poor, according to the Conference of Religious in Ireland. The scheme, which encourages people to save £200 a month with incentives of up to £50 a month, was "in addition to substantial gains already made through tax cuts and pay increases," said CORI director Father Sean Healy.
"At the same time, Ireland's poorest people, depending on the lowest rates of social welfare, will gain nothing from the savings scheme.
"The problem is not with the promotion of saving but with the distribution of the benefits from this programme and other government programmes when compared with how the poorest people in Irish society are currently being treated."
It was not inevitable that the fruits of economic growth should be distributed primarily among the better off. This was happening because of Government policies "that chose to widen the gap between the poorest and the better off. This is fundamentally unjust and illustrates why a new approach is urgently needed."