Protect Women and Children in Next Weeks Budget

Published: Thursday, April 02, 2009

National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) makes recommendations to Government .

The government must not try to 'cut' its way out of the crisis, it is critical that a long term plan is put in place that creates a new way forward for social and economic policy.

'In its attempts at reducing public expenditure the government must ensure that women who are in low paid employment and relying on social welfare are protected during this economic recession' stated Orla O'Connor, Head of Policy and Acting Director, NWCI. 'Women and children are at greatest risk of poverty and all payments supporting women and children should be protected. Women are already facing serious consequences from the recession with recent unemployment figures showing the sectors of retail and services have been severely hit.

The NWCI made its call in its position paper for the supplementary budget next Tuesday, in which it highlights that the government has already stated its commitment to ensuring the most vulnerable in society are protected.

The NWCI is calling for the protection of payments which support parents to care for children. The current NWCI survey on 'The importance of child benefit for parents' highlighted the critical importance that parents are currently placing on child benefit and other direct payments. 45% of respondents said that it would be a 'financial disaster' for their families if child benefit was to be cut in the Budget. 66.6% of respondents said that Child Benefit is currently a 'critical part' of family income. ' Child Benefit and the Early Years Childcare Supplement are currently the only payments that the State makes to parents to care for children' continued O'Connor, ' to slash or reduce these payments in any way would have serious, negative, long-lasting effects on women and children. Supports for parents to pay for childcare are critical for women to survive in a recession'.

The NWCI is also calling on the government to ensure that those dependent on the minimum wage remain out of the tax net so as to maximise their earnings. 'The NWCI is advocating that those who have the highest earnings and most wealth contribute the most to the state finances. It would be grossly unfair to expect those who never benefitted from the prosperous 'Celtic Tiger' years to now bear the brunt for this crisis.'

There are opportunities for the government at this time to reform the tax and social welfare systems so that they can be more fair and equitable, while placing care at the centre of social policies going forward. The NWCI believes this Budget provides an opportunity to redistribute resources to create a universal pension for older people and create a free preschool place for all children' she concluded.

Pre Budget Submission 2009

NWCI_Supplementary_Budget_2009.pdf 284.93 kB