The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, faced a stark choice in his forthcoming Budget: to support the poorest and most vulnerable or to enhance the living standards of the more prosperous, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) said yesterday.
Speaking at the publication of the charity's pre-budget submission in Dublin, its president, Mr Brian O'Reilly, said the SVP was "under no illusion as to present financial constraints".
"What we do assert, however, is the principle of choice: in Budget 2003 do we choose to tackle poverty or merely to improve competitiveness or tackle economic bottlenecks in isolation?"
Sounding a pessimistic note, however, he said Government policy had "already produced a mini-budget by stealth, with public services losing out most".
"Health budgets are being raided and the confirmation of cuts in planned surgery and the non-renewal of temporary contracts [in the health service] are consequences of this."
The cost of living continued to increase, he continued, leaving those on the lowest incomes less and less able to "participate meaningfully in society", Mr O'Reilly said.
The SVP makes specific, costed demands in all areas of concern to it.
The ones identified by a spokesman as "the most serious" are that:
the lowest social welfare rate be increased from €118 per week to €130 per week;
the building of an extra 5,000 houses should be funded each year for the next five years;
homelessness should be tackled with the building of 3,000 sheltered housing units over the next three years;
educational disadvantage must be addressed through the expansion of the Early Start programme to all schools in identified disadvantaged areas over a five-year period;
the medical card should be available to everyone on the national minimum wage (€12,879 per year) and to all children under 18.
Mr John Monaghan of the SVP said adequate provision in these areas "should be seen as a right, not as a discretionary, debatable option".
"As Ireland's short-term economic situation deteriorates we're still a wealthy country, and we have the resources to do what is right," he added.
