THE POOR Can’t Pay campaign group has called on Minister for Social Welfare Mary Hanafin to make public her department’s analysis of the impact of planned welfare cuts.
Last week the Minister revealed that a document was being prepared for Cabinet which would list all potential welfare cuts. Ms Hanafin promised that the impact each proposed cut would have on the poor would be analysed by officials in the social inclusion division of her department.
Spokeswoman for the campaign Dr Mary Murphy welcomed the Minister’s statement. “We are aware of the gravity of the economic situation but the impact on the poor seems to be disproportionate,” she said.
Dr Murphy said the analysis should take into consideration that people on social welfare for a long period would have used up any reserve sources of income.
Dr Murphy said she hoped that the Minister would consider the views of organisations who dealt directly with the people whom the welfare cuts were going to affect.
The HSE said the Minister “is giving special priority to receiving the views of those particularly reliant on State services. She has invited pre-budget submissions from representative organisations who are working on behalf of vulnerable groups, such as the unemployed, lone parents, children, the elderly etc.
“The Minister has invited representative organisations to the annual pre-budget forum being held in October, where they can each address the wider forum with their particular concerns.”