Income Distribution

Social Justice Ireland welcomes Basic Income for Artists, but argues that a Universal Basic Income is required

Tuesday, 5 April 2022
adequate social payment 0

The basic income pilot programme for artists, announced by Government today, is most welcome and is far more appropriate to deal with the income challenges of the 21st century than anything that is…

Ethical Policymaking? A good idea waiting to happen

Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Rich Poor Gap Tax

A recent article by Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, looks at putting moral perspectives into public finances. Mauro argues that policy decisions on taxation and…

Ireland needs a Universal State Social Welfare Pension

Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Pension Pot

The latest data from the CSO indicates that more than one third of people aged 20-69 do not have any pension support outside of State payments. With an increasing and ageing population, there are…

Lower income, rural and older households most impacted by rising inflation

Monday, 28 February 2022
Rural Sufficient Income

The latest Central Bank Economic Letter ‘Household Characteristics, Irish inflation and the cost of Living’ finds that lower income, rural and older households have faced a higher than average…

Social Protection Expenditure in Ireland 2020

Monday, 21 February 2022
Adequate social welfare payment

Social Protection Expenditure in Ireland increased by 20% between 2019 and 2020 according to the latest CSO data.  Social protection expenditure was €58.2 billion in 2020, a rise of €9.8bn (20%) on…

Wellbeing in Recovery - The OECD Covid-19 Dashboard for Ireland

Wednesday, 16 February 2022
OECD Covid Recovery Dashboard

The OECD has recently released its Covid-19 Recovery Dashboard, a selection of twenty indicators that aims to monitor the recovery of OECD countries from the pandemic. Spread across four dimensions…

Government cost of living package fails to reach many of the most vulnerable

Thursday, 10 February 2022
Persistent Poverty

Those who were left behind in Budget 2022 have been left behind again in Government’s cost of living package. Government’s plan to tackle the rising cost of living proves, once again, that this…

Dealing with the increased cost of living

Wednesday, 9 February 2022
Cash Money

Two practical ways to reduce the cost of living would be to benchmark core social welfare rates to 27.5 per cent of average weekly earnings and to make the two main tax credits refundable.   By…

World Inequality Report 2022

Friday, 28 January 2022
World Inequality Report Cover 2022

The World Inequality Report 2022, released in December 2021 gives up to date insights into income and wealth distribution across the world. The report gathers together in one place data from all…

Social welfare rates in Ireland 2011-2022

Monday, 24 January 2022
adequate social payment 0

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) published an analysis of social welfare rate changes 2011-2022 in December 2021.  The report looks at core social welfare rates over time, and rate changes…