Social welfare payments are inadequate to provide a minimum essential standard of living, the Oireachtas committee on Social protection heard on Wednesday.
Speaking at the committee, Michelle Murphy, research and policy analyst at think tank Social Justice Ireland, said, “even after the provision of social welfare payments, in 2024, there were almost 630,000 people in Ireland living below the poverty line”.
The committee met to discuss pre-budget submissions with relevant organisations.
“Government should commit to benchmarking core social welfare rates to 27.5 per cent of average weekly earnings. At a minimum, this requires an increase of €25 in core social welfare rates in 2026,” said Ms Murphy.
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Social Justice Ireland has proposed several measures to support those on lower incomes, including increasing child benefit by €50 per month and introducing a cost-of-disability allowance of €20 a week.
Executive director of the Simon Communities of Ireland Ber Grogan told the committee that the State had the highest number of homeless people in emergency accommodation at the end of May.
She said it can be estimated that an additional 24,000 people are “experiencing hidden homelessness”, such as those couch surfing, sleeping rough, living in cars or inadequate housing.
She listed several recommended measures, which she called “pragmatic asks”. These included increasing rent supplement in line with existing tenancy rates and increasing core social welfare rates by at least €16 a week.
Alone chief executive Sean Moynihan said: “With once-off supports set to be withdrawn from Budget 2026, targeted supports are now essential” to prevent increasing poverty among older people.
He noted that while Social Justice Ireland places the poverty line at €323.99 per week for a one-adult household, the maximum weekly rate for the State Pension is €289.30 for those under 80.
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Alone’s pre-budget submission includes recommendations to increase the pension by at least €22, to bump up the fuel allowance for older people by at least €20 and increase the living-alone allowance by at least €10.
Catherine Cox, head of communications and policy at Family Carers Ireland, noted that while the Coalition has committed to fully funding the carer guarantee, geared to ensure that every family carer has access to a consistent level of support, only half of the budget has been provided for this.
She called on the Government to “provide the outstanding €3.3 million towards the carer guarantee in this year’s budget”.
Family Carers Ireland has also asked for the carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit to be increased to €325 a week and to allow carers above 66 years to receive the full allowance while in receipt of the State pension.
At present, carers in receipt of that pension can receive only half the standard carer’s allowance rate following a measure introduced in 2007.
Irish Foster Care Association chief executive Corrine Hasson said a recent survey of its members found 78 per cent of foster carers are using their income to cover expenses for their foster child.
She said the recent announcement that foster carers are to be included in the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance “fell short of expectations” as it involves means testing for the yearly payment.
She called on the Government to “ensure foster carers receive financial supports that reflect the growing financial demands of caring for a child”, including removing means testing conditions for the back-to-school allowance.
Lily Power, policy officer at The Wheel, the Republic’s national association of community and voluntary organisations, said that an uncertain global context, increasing inequality, polarisation and climate breakdown will make policymaking particularly difficult for 2026.
Among The Wheel’s recommendations are to provide funding on a full-cost recovery basis to ensure services can continue to be delivered by the voluntary and community sector, and a move towards provision of multiannual funding for the sector on a phased basis.
