AUG 20TH 2009

The Poor Can’t Pay campaign group called on the Minister for Social Welfare, Mary Hanafin, T.D., to make public her Department’s analysis of the impact of planned welfare cuts. “Everyone should know what the consequences of cutting the income of the poorest will be”, said Dr. Mary Murphy, a spokesperson for the campaign. 
 
Last week in an RTE interview the Minister revealed that a document was being prepared for Cabinet which would list all potential welfare cuts and set out the implications of each. Minister Hanafin further promised that the full impact which each proposed cut would have on the poor would be analysed by officials in the new Social Inclusion Division of her Department. The Minister also stated that proposed cuts by other Departments, which would impact on people living in poverty, would also be analysed by her Department.
 
“We welcome the Minister’s statement that this analysis is being carried out”, said Dr. Murphy, “and we are calling on the Minister to publish the findings of this work so that it can lead and inform public debate. We also believe the Minister should assess the impact of the announced withdrawal of the Christmas payment and the deflationary impact which cutting welfare payments would have.  

“The debate on welfare payments has been dominated by people who know very little about the welfare system or about what it is like to live on a low income. The publication of an analysis of the real implications of the cuts would help lead a more informed debate.
 
Dr. Murphy added, “We in The Poor Can’t Pay believe that the Government must protect the most vulnerable during this recession. If the Government refuses to publish this analysis we can only conclude that they want to hide the consequences of the decisions they are making.”
  
‘The Poor Can’t Pay’ is a coalition of Community & Voluntary Organisations and Trades Unions which has come together to defend basic welfare payments and the minimum wage, and to ensure that the traditional Christmas Payment is continued. Members include: Age Action, Barnardos, CORI Justice, EAPN Ireland, Focus Ireland, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, Mandate, the National Women’s Council of Ireland, SIPTU and Saint Vincent de Paul.' ENDS