1 Aib 2014, 17:33
Representatives from the Equality Budgeting Campaign are before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions tomorrow afternoon to present a petition calling for equality to be placed at the heart of budgetary decisions.
1 April 2014
The Equality Budgeting Campaign is a broad organisation made up of civil society and includes groups such as Irish Feminist Network, National Women’s Council of Ireland, SIPTU, Unite the Union, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, SPARK and Union of Students in Ireland
Chairman of the Committee Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD says: “Budgetary decisions and their impact on the most vulnerable warrant very close consideration before they are finalised. Tomorrow, our Committee will hear the case for equality budgeting, and consider how the government departments and agencies can make greater use of internal and external policy analysis to capture the full impact of Budget decisions on economic inequality. There is undoubtedly a need to conduct budget discussions in more public and rational manner, where key long-term data can be shared and debated out in the open.
\"The petition from the Equality Budgeting campaign points to the Scottish model, where an Equality and Budget Advisory Group made up of government and civil society actors, has been established to work with the government on devising the budget and equality-proofing economic policy measures. As a Committee, we look forward to hearing the benefits of equality budgeting and perhaps explore a role for the Oireachtas Committee system, within which the long-term trends about economic imbalances can be considered.”
The meeting takes place tomorrow Wednesday 2 April in Committee Room 3, LH 2000 at 4 pm. Public proceedings can be viewed online here.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
Get involved and access petitions website.
Media enquiries to:
Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
Committee Membership
Deputies: Richard Boyd Barrett, Charles Flanagan, Noel Harrington, Michael Healy-Rae, Seamus Kirk, Michael Kitt, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Chair), Michael McCarthy, Helen McEntee, Michelle Mulherin, Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Patrick O’Donovan, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Jack Wall and Mick Wallace
Senators: Jimmy Harte, Tony Mulcahy, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and Susan O’Keeffe