Better services for carers, more support for families and help for people on low pay were among the issues raised at a pre-Budget forum in Dublin yesterday.
Nearly 30 organisations made submissions at the annual forum to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern.
The Minister said the cost of implementing the social welfare elements of submissions made to his Department so far would be £1.5 billion, "10 times what is normally available to a Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs in the Budget".
One of the main themes of the day was the need to provide more support to carers. Mr Eddie Collins-Hughes, of the Carers' Association, said it was "a national disgrace that carers were left out of the last Budget". A 50 per cent increase in the Carers' Allowance would cost £25 million a year and this could be afforded, he said. He called for the abolition of the means test for the allowance.
Other groups sought improvements in the home-help services, and the Care Alliance Ireland said families caring for relatives should be able to get subventions currently given only to nursing homes.
These subventions, it said, "have resulted in a rapid expansion of private nursing homes". Age Action Ireland pointed out that many carers are themselves over pension age.
There were a number of calls for significant improvements in the old-age pension. Ms Monica-Ann Dunne of the National Federation of Pensioners' Associations also called for public service pensioners to be entitled to the same nonmeans-tested, non-cash benefits, such as free electricity, as other pensioners.
Among the many participants seeking an increase in child benefit (the children's allowance) was Ms Helen Lahart of the Parents Alone Resource Centre who said the rate of child benefit should be linked to the age of the child. More than half the State's lone parents lived in poverty, she said, compared to 14 per cent of households without children and a quarter of households with children and two parents.
The position of people on low pay was highlighted by the Scheme Workers' Alliance. Its researcher, Mr Leo Duffy, said some people were working for as little as £2 an hour or sometimes less. The Government should not wait until the end of next year to introduce the minimum wage of £4.40 an hour, he said. The alliance called for improved conditions for people working on community employment schemes.
Crosscare, the social service agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, said in its submission that families on low pay were "caught in an invidious poverty trap. There is an illusion of being well-off if one is in employment and yet because of the anomalies in the taxation system, persons on low pay find themselves struggling to secure the necessities of life."
It called for a range of measures including significant rises in child benefit and a £10-a-week rise in unemployment assistance for a single person (currently £70.50 for long-term unemployed) and almost £20 a week extra for a couple (currently £111.70).
Family Solidarity called for higher tax exemptions for low-paid workers with children. The Conference of Religious of Ireland said tax cuts in the next Budget should focus exclusively on the low-paid.
The Forum of People with Disabilities said fewer than one in 10 of those who had a disability had an income of more than £100 a week. The cost of getting to work and of various aids such as wheelchairs prevented many disabled people from working.
An "additional costs of disability" payment should be introduced as promised by the Minister of State, Ms Mary Wallace, when she was in opposition, Ms Theresa McAteer of the forum said.
