Michelle Murphy, Social Justice Ireland responds to aspects of Budget 2020

1. Budget 2020
Reflections and Analysis
NERI Seminar 16th October 2019
Michelle Murphy
Research and Policy Analyst
Social Justice Ireland
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2. Budget 2020 – overall assessment
• Overall people on lowest incomes left behind
Social Welfare
Minimum Wage
• No real progress in major areas:
Housing
Environment
Education – future funding
Taxation
• Contained some welcome developments
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3. Budget 2020: some progress
• Increase in stamp duty on non-residential property
• Carbon tax increase
• Ringfencing of increased carbon tax revenue
• Brexit fund
• Hot School Meals, Living Alone Allowance, JSA U26 and other small
welfare changes
• National Childcare Scheme
• Special Needs Education
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4. Budget 2020 and low income households
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5. Brexit and low income households
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Percentage of Total Expenditure spent on Food, by income decile

6. Brexit and low income households
• €892 - €1360 cost of living increase – No Deal.
• Will be unevenly distributed
low income households most exposed.
• Food represents a large proportion of spending for bottom 40%
Between 17% and 19% total expenditure
• These households have the least capacity to absorb a large impact on
their living costs.
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7. Budget 2020: Social Welfare Rates
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Jobseekers Benefit (% of Avg Weekly Earnings)
• €9 increase in B2020 was required to
meet the benchmark of 27.5% average
earnings
• Welfare recipients will be left behind if
rates don’t keep track with increases
elsewhere in the economy
• Budget largely ignored the social welfare
system – largely ignores the living
standards and needs of weakest in
society

8. Minimum Wage and Low Pay
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• Low pay – 1 in 5 workers
• Minimum Wage will be €2.50 below the
Living Wage in 2020
• Living Wage = benchmark for minimum
living standards for workers
• In contrast with the ongoing increases in
pay across the rest of society.
• People on low pay left behind
Low Pay Gap

9. Disability: no progress
• More than one in three (35.4%) people with a disability live on an
income below the poverty line and 26% live in consistent poverty.
• Budget 2020 did not take the necessary steps to improve services and
funding for this area e.g. home supports, respite care, investment in
community care.
• No move to introduce a cost of disability payment despite
Government commissioning work on this issue in Budget 2019.
• UNCRPD – no additional funding for implementation
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10. Budget 2020 – housing and environment
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11. Budget 2020: Housing
• Expenditure on emergency accommodation has increased by 311%
since 2014.
• €440m in 31 local authority areas.
• Focus is on HAP and private market reliance
• Must move to prevention – and State construction of social and
affordable homes.
• Help to Buy subsidising inflation?
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12. Budget 2020: Housing
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• 71,858 households on social housing waiting list
• 77.5% are Single Adult Households (including 22,195 single parent
households)
• Most impacted by lack of social and affordable homes
• “Affordable home” = 300k - €320k
• Home ownership simply out of reach of most single adult households.

13. Budget 2020: Environment
“Climate change is without doubt the defining challenge of our
generation” – Minister Donohoe
• Retrofitting?
• Public Transport?
• Environmental Subsidies?
• Circular economy?
• Just Transition?
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14. Thank you
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