Policy Briefing on Child Benefit and Child Poverty - 2012

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Children should not have to pay for gambling losses of bankers and developers - IMF criticised

• Children should not have to pay for gambling losses of bankers and developers
• Ireland can balance its budget without victimising children
• IMF urged to propose fair and just solutions to Ireland’s problems

Social Justice Ireland has criticised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for proposing that children should pay for the gambling losses of bankers and developers. In effect this is what the IMF was doing when outlining its proposals following its review and detailed examination of Ireland’s fiscal, financial sector and other key policies from a medium-term perspective, published July 18, 2012.

Responding to the IMF’s suggestion that Child Benefit payments should be means-tested Social Justice Ireland points out that Ireland’s support for children is low by international standards.  We acknowledge that Government must balance its Budget but we have shown on several occasions in recent years how Ireland can do this without victimising children.  We will again illustrate how this can be done when we publish our Policy Briefing on Budget Choices in the autumn.

Social Justice Ireland strongly urges the IMF and other international agencies to propose fair and just solutions to Ireland’s problems when they choose to provide advice. It is imperative that Government be seen to make choices and decisions that are just and fair. Means testing or taxing Child Benefit would be unjust and unfair.