Budget increases in social welfare benefits for children should be targeted at the most needy families, the Society of St Vincent de Paul has said.
The society wants an increase in child dependant allowance, a weekly benefit paid to some 400,000 children whose parents are social welfare recipients.
It says the weekly benefit has not been significantly increased in real terms since 1994, while there have been substantial increases in child benefit, which is paid to families with children regardless of their incomes.
Child dependant allowance is paid in addition to the monthly child benefit, which it is widely expected will not be increased as substantially in next week's Budget as had been originally promised by the Minister for Finance.
Prof John Monaghan, the society's vice-president, said child dependant allowance should be increased to a single weekly rate of €25. It currently ranges from €16.80 to €21.60 per child, depending on the benefits paid to the adult whom the child is dependent upon.
"Child benefit goes to every home in the State, for those on social welfare and those earning hundreds of thousands of euros per year, so it's not means tested," said Prof Monaghan. "If you are telling us there is a crisis in the economy then we should focus on the most needy in society."
Recent increases in child benefit were not an attack on child poverty, he said. "If they were really attacking child poverty they would have increased child dependant allowance because that's where the poverty exists," he added.
The targeted increase for children is among a series of Budget measures the society is seeking, including an increase in the minimum social welfare rate to €130 per week and the removal of those on the minimum wage from the tax net.
At the launch of its annual report yesterday, the society's president, Mr Brian O'Reilly, said thousands of families surviving on inadequate social welfare and very low incomes faced harsh inequalities.
The recently announced cuts in the Book of Estimates indicated "nothing less than a very hard attack on soft targets which will damage those least able to defend themselves".
Mr O'Reilly said that even in the last days of the Celtic Tiger, the society had a growing demand for its services. It spent more than €21 million in the nine months until the end of last December helping poor families. Almost €1 million was spent per month on the basic necessities of cash assistance, food, clothing, furniture and fuel for those in need. The public donated more than €16.6 million to the charity last year. Mr O'Reilly said the society would "continue to speak out against social injustice as we strive to ensure that those in need receive what they are entitled to, in justice rather than in charity."