The report to which the Deputy refers was produced by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice in September. It sets out the results of a small-scale study which sought to explore the experiences of people on social welfare or on relatively low incomes in Dublin city and to examine how they managed their weekly income. The report recommends that social welfare rates and child benefit rates should be increased significantly in order to alleviate the risk of poverty. These results were based on the social welfare rates for 1999 and thus do not take account of the substantial increases we have seen in both weekly welfare rates and child benefit rates since then.
The recent report of the social welfare benchmarking and indexation group noted the difficulties associated with deriving a definition of adequacy which is indisputable and universally accepted. This Government has shown, however, that it is firmly committed to significant improvements in social welfare. Increases have amounted to over £1.8 billion since we came into office. The forthcoming budget will further underline this commitment. The report produced by the Vincentian Partnership also highlights the importance of employment as a pathway out of poverty and draws attention to the importance of the provision of affordable childcare and flexible working arrangements in this regard. This finding accords with Government policy and is reflected in the unprecedented level of unemployment of just less than 4% we have experienced in recent times, in the very significant investments being made by Government in the area of childcare, and in the development of family-friendly employment policies.
