The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed will seek a social welfare increase in the December Budget to take the basic rate to €150 a week .
Its general secretary, Mr Eric Conroy, was optimistic yesterday that improvements in public finances and a changing political climate would lead to significant increases in social spending.
Addressing the INOU annual conference in Dublin, Mr Conroy alluded to speculation that Mr Cowen would take charge of the Finance portfolio in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle.
While Mr Cowen had something of a "bulldog image", he might be more amenable than Mr McCreevy to spending increases designed to improve social inclusivity, Mr Conroy said.
He said it was not about "more spending just for the sake of it", but targeting measures to assist the less well off "and give everybody a chance" to benefit from economic progress.
A key INOU demand was for a €14.50 increase on the lowest social welfare rate of €134.80 per week. This was the minimum needed to keep the Government on target to meet its commitment on welfare rates under the National Anti-Poverty Strategy.
This states that the lowest social welfare rate should reach €150 per week, in 2002 terms, by 2007. Allowing for inflation, this meant the basic social welfare rate should exceed €180 per week by 2007, Mr Conroy said.
As well as a basic €14.50 rise, the INOU is seeking measures to address the "unemployment trap" which it says makes it financially non-viable for many unemployed people to return to work. Even those in low-paid jobs can lose a range of secondary benefits, such as medical cards, rent supplement, back-to-school clothing and footwear and fuel allowance, the INOU says.
Mr Conroy said the Government might be more disposed to increase social spending now that it had collected €1.5 billion more in tax revenue in the first eight months of the year than anticipated. He also alluded to a mood for change within Fianna Fáil following its poor performance in the local elections.
