The Government's tax and welfare policies have done little to redress inequality because all workers gained from tax cuts and not just low earners, according to the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).
In a new report, it also says: "Balancing employment and responsibility for a young child is currently a major source of stress in the Irish workforce."
In a review of the welfare services, the NESC says people are "suffering unnecessarily" because old and new social problems are proving more intractable for the social partners than they should be.
Drafts of the report, seen by The Irish Times, state that some of the current disagreements on social policy are unproductive and blocking reforms.
"Values are changing, standards are rising and attitudes and expectations are different with respect to what constitutes acceptable provision for a person vulnerable to social exclusion for whatever reason," it says.
Completed late last month, the drafts indicate that the NESC will call for significant reform of child and elderly care services and more efforts to help early school leavers and those on long-term social assistance.
Stating that many working women bear the responsibility of rearing young children, the report says childcare facilities remain "patchily available" and cost Irish workers more than almost anywhere else in Europe.
The report says other workers combine their job commitment with responsibility for an elderly parent or housebound relative.
"Supports to workers in their dual role as carers have made a rapid appearance but the scale of what will be needed constitutes a major challenge."
The report also says low-earners lose an entitlement to a medical card and are liable to pay a "significant proportion" of their income on a visit to a GP and on medicine.
The council, whose members include representatives of the Government and all the social partners, says in the draft that social policy should not be wholly subordinated to the requirements of improving economic performance.
"A society is more than its economy, and there are legitimate objectives and strategies for social policy that have nothing to do directly with fostering employability or productivity."
It goes to say that the Government's policy of introducing across-the-board income tax cuts have had "major significance" for the welfare state.
"In the absence of any major widening of the tax base, this has reduced the resources available to the welfare state and altered the relationship between its parts," the report says.
Some of the poorest households did not gain from tax cuts because no-one was earning while two-income households gained from such cuts.
"Because of this, and the fact that income tax has been significantly reduced for everyone, and not just those on low earnings, the wider tax and welfare packages that have characterised budgets during the modern period have done little to redress income inequalities across the population as a whole."
While the report says the welfare system has been "performing well" since the mid-1980s, it identifies three groups with special requirements: those with low educational attainment; low-income workers; and neglected minorities.
"Significant numbers of people at work need . . . access to a greater range of services if they are to attain and retain the lifetime employability, adaptability and flexibility required of them as members of Ireland's workforce in an internationalised economy", the draft says.
On neglected minorities, the report calls for "higher professionalism", a more holistic approach and improved services "in every type of institution" where individuals are the responsibility of the State. This includes childrens' homes; welfare homes for older people; psychiatric institutions, asylum-seeker accommodation; centres for young offenders; and prisons.
