THE Budget was a "triumph of greed over need" and aggravated the widening of the poverty gap between the long term unemployed and all those in jobs, the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) said in a lengthy, highly critical statement.

CORI said a golden opportunity had been lost and the divisions in Irish society would deepen as a result of the Budget.

"There is something profoundly wrong with a society where resources are growing dramatically yet it refuses to give priority to tackling poverty, unemployment and exclusion," said CORI.

Massive new resources, which were coming on stream, had been allocated to those who were already better off. Meanwhile, poverty, unemployment and exclusion would persist at their present totally unacceptable levels.

"This Government had the resources to impact dramatically on poverty, unemployment and exclusion. It chose instead to allocate these resources to those who were already well off. Budget 97 marks the triumph of greed over need."

The gap in take home pay between an unemployed couple and a couple on £20,000 a year had been widened by £530 a year in the Budget.

Compared to a couple on a salary of £40,000, the gap had widened by £1,072. This continued the trend of budgets in recent years.

"Since coming to power, this Government has presided over a widening of the poverty gap by £1,405 a year in take home income of a long term unemployed couple compared to a couple earning a salary of £20,000.

In the case of a couple on £40,000 a year, the gap has widened by £2,737 a year since 1995. These figures alone are a devastating indictment of Government policy. But the situation is even worse when unemployment policy is taken into consideration."

If unemployment is to be eliminated by 2002, there was need for a net gain of 400,000 on the present number of jobs available (based on the Labour Force survey), said CORI. "In other words, job numbers must increase by 32 per cent over the next five years if unemployment is to be eliminated. Budget 97 predicts that jobs will increase by 45,000 in 1997, but it also predicts that unemployment will fall by only 7,000."

CORI said there were more people living in poverty now than there were 20 years ago.

"In fact, if one draws a line at 60 per cent of average equivalent household income, 463,000 more people are below that line today than was the case in 1973. Yet there is no concerted anti poverty strategy of sufficient scale to be effective. Such a strategy is planned by the Government, but this Budget shows little evidence of such a strategy. The poor have waited too long."