"Child benefit is a key route to tackling child poverty"
As we await official confirmation from the government on details of Budget 2024 on October 10th, an organisation has put forward suggestions on measures they feel need to be included.
One of those recommendations is that parents receive an additional €50 in the Child Benefit payment.
Social Justice Ireland has made a submission with calls for this allowance to be increased from €140 to €190 a month to 'address Ireland's levels of child poverty.'
Social Justice Ireland's Research and Policy Analyst, Susanne Rogers, says this is a crucial measure as 'children are one of the most vulnerable groups in any society.'
"Child benefit is a key route to tackling child poverty and is of particular value to those families on the lowest incomes."
Social Justice Ireland is also pushing for a €25 weekly increase in the social welfare rates, which currently stand at €220 a week, in the hopes of limiting any further widening in the rich-poor gap after this year's Budget announcement.
"If Government is serious about meeting its own poverty targets and supporting households on the lowest incomes who, through good and bad economic times, struggle to make ends meet, then core welfare rates must increase by a minimum of €25 in Budget 2024."
Meanwhile, the Children's Minister, Roderic O'Gorman, has already alluded to the Working Family Payment and the Increased Qualified Child Allowance rising after Budget Day.
It's also believed that the Social Protection Minister, Heather Humphreys, wants to see several one-off bonuses for social welfare recipients in Budget 2024, such as those on Fuel Allowance, the Working Family Payment, and the Living Alone Allowance.
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