The Conference of Religious of Ireland's justice commission has called on the Government to ensure that the forthcoming Budget does not mark "the triumph of greed over need".
In a detailed 112-page pre-Budget submission to the Minister for Finance, CORI urges Mr McCreevy to ensure that all tax cuts are targeted at the low-paid and that priority is not given to tax cuts over additional social inclusion measures. It also calls for an increase of 10,000 places on "rate for the job" (union negotiated rates) programmes to reduce long-term unemployed numbers. It also wants programmes to deal with social exclusion.
Under the title A Question of Choices, it says: "There is something profoundly wrong with a society where resources are growing dramatically yet it refuses to give priority to tackling poverty, unemployment and exclusion." This, it says, is what some groups are urging the Government to do in the Budget.
It says the full £100 million in tax cuts promised to the corporate sector had been delivered in the 1997 budget, and insists that "under no circumstances" would it be acceptable for the Government to fund the full PAYE tax package for 1998 while not simultaneously funding a full social exclusion package.
CORI also calls for proportionality between tax cuts and new social exclusion spending in the Budget. The submission observes that there are more people with incomes below the poverty line than 10 years ago and that while there was a net increase of 41,000 jobs last year, unemployment figures fell by just 12,000.
There are 3,000 more people unemployed than in 1990, while 26,000 more are on schemes such as the community employment scheme than in 1990.
Despite these figures, however, it notes that the percentage of net government spending on social welfare has dropped from 36 per cent in 1992 to 34.5 per cent in 1996, and that the percentage GDP being spent on social welfare has dropped from 12.3 per cent in 1987 to 11.7 per cent. Meanwhile over the same period, the number of social-welfare recipients has increased, while 33,000 households are on waiting lists for housing.
"Ireland", the submission adds, "is a low-tax country" where expenditure on social welfare is the lowest in the EU apart from Portugal. It calls for a more radical and imaginative framework for society, one which will guarantee an adequate income, meaningful work and participation for all.
The key to such a framework would be the introduction of a basic income guarantee for all. It would ensure that no one fell below a threshold necessary to enable every person to take a full part in society.
