Of all the payments and allowances, the take-up of FIS is the lowest. The reason for this is that people do not know it is available. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul advocated in its pre-budget submission for a dedicated fund in the Department of Social and Family Affairs to raise awareness. As Mr. Geoghegan suggested, a quick blast of advertisements in the local newspapers or through the media would let households know they can avail of this payment.
Part of the problem may be that people believe taking up the payment is a little technical and that they will not understand it. To maximise the take-up, one must outline in plain language the eligibility criteria for family income supplement. As Mr. Geoghegan said, as a coalition, we are not advocating a specific second tier payment.
There are a number of items on the agenda. The National Economic and Social Council study will this year deal with the issue of child income support, specifically the issue of second payments. There are a number of interventions at the Government's disposal. For example, CDAs and family income supplement could be merged, another look could be taken at the refundable tax credits option and CDA payments could be re-examined. The argument has been made that because they have been frozen for 11 years CDAs do not warrant the same treatment as in 1994 when it was held they acted as a disincentive to work. We are asking that the committee look at the various options, although we are not being prescriptive in that regard.
In our experience, the back to school clothing and footwear allowance has a better uptake rate than family income supplement. I am not sure if is 100% but it is certainly much healthier than in the case of family income supplement. The debate in that regard centres on eligibility and whether it is adequate in terms of the age categories and so on.
I will now address the points regarding consistency and relevance. To the best of our knowledge, only the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom in the European Union use the consistent poverty indicator when considering the issue of poverty. We have little with which to compare the consistent poverty rate. This indicator informs us of a significant level of hardship. Statistics from the recently launched EU study indicate there is a significantly high level of consistent poverty. It cannot be compared, however, to the previous ESRI study. The rate of consistent poverty is not down to 0% or 2%. In general terms, it is approximately 10% or 11%, a significant figure given the robust methodology used and not something to be dismissed.
The measure used across the European Union is relative income poverty — the extent to which one can participate in society, have a normal meaningful life and is able to provide for one's children in terms of health, education, access to services and other items which most of us take for granted. The figures in that regard have been consistently high and are increasing based on recent data.
The Society of the St. Vincent de Paul is well placed to provide an indication of what exactly is going on. Much of what is happening is linked to the issue of medical cards and to families headed by a person in employment but on low pay and unable to enjoy the tax cuts introduced under social partnership agreements which higher income earners enjoy. Such persons are often not eligible for the medical card or rent supplement if in the private rented sector and are being hit in a number of ways because so many services have a price tag attached. I do not suggest the system is adequate for a person fully dependent on the social welfare system but it does provide certain safety nets for people in employment on a particular level of income. As outlined, such persons are often vulnerable. The system includes those struggling within the social welfare system to make ends meet, of whom in our experience there is a significant number, and those households headed by a person in employment but on low pay and struggling for the reasons outlined.
The issue of asylum seekers was raised. We have a number of sister organisations assisting refugees and asylum seekers. In this regard, the issue of integration is important. There is a space in policy, within social partnership, for a special initiative on migration and interculturalism, part of which assumes an effort or attempt at integration. The direct payment of small amounts of money to families does not assist in integration as it does not allow for travel, trips to hospital and other contingencies. That has been the experience of some of the centres affiliated to our organisations.