There was a mixed response from the community and voluntary sector to the launch of Budget 2025 this week. Some measures have been welcomed as a step in the right direction, but many organisations expressed the view that it didn’t go far enough to help those who need it most.
Irish Rural Link (IRL) welcomed some of the announcements made in relation to social protection, but pointed out that they “will not be enough for low-income rural households to meet the continued cost of living challenges”.
IRL also expressed concern about the amount of funding available to the Department of Rural and Community Development.
CEO Seamus Boland said: “The allocation of €472m to this Department pales in comparison to the amount of money available in the Budget, but also for any meaningful development to be made in rural areas and to ensure the sustainability of the community and voluntary sector.
“The C&V sector has continued to struggle, not just from the current cost of living crisis, but from the recession nearly 15 years ago. This sector delivers many essential services to people in rural areas and continues to be less funded to do this.”
In its pre-Budget statement, the Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) had called on the Government to invest in communities.
The organisation warned that all political parties must take seriously the “growing perception of a political system that does not give meaningful voice to local communities”.
“We encourage Government to use Budget 2025 as an opportunity to advance its vision for Ireland through the lens of community and community development, and to use this Budget to prove to communities that they do not need to break from mainstream politics in order to feel valued, trusted, and heard.”
The ILDN also called on the Government to increase the SICAP budgetary allocation to €7.4 million, however, the Budget provided an increase of €2.5 million to SICAP “and similar type supports.
2024 marks the final year of Ireland’s five-year Strategy for the Community and Voluntary Sector.
The ILDN said that the “ongoing lack of Government follow-through on key actions – even on the commitment to undertake formal review of the Strategy” had left the sector “in a deeply precarious position”.
The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) slammed the Budget as a “bonanza budget for many” that “fails to deliver for young people and youth work”.
The organisation was critical of the shortfall of funding for the youth work sector, and insufficient long-term solutions for transport and education.
Mary Cunningham, CEO of the NYCI said: “While Budget 2025 includes an overall allocation of €8.3 billion to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth (DCEDIY), the funding for youth work services is disappointing and falls short of what is critically needed to support Ireland’s growing youth population. The confirmed €7 million for the expansion of youth work services is less than half what young people and the sector had advocated for.”
Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance said the Budget measures focusing on children and families are “the furthest this Government has gone in increasing income supports specifically for children and young people experiencing poverty”.
However, she warned that any increases “still remain below what we want to see to ensure a decent standard of living for these children”.
She also pointed out that a commitment to end child poverty must include urgent action to lift children and young people in direct provision out of poverty.
Ms Ward welcomed the €1.4 billion investment in the early years sector, as well as the extension of the Free School Book Scheme and the Hot School Meals Programme.
The issue of ‘Holiday Hunger’ was also addressed with the announcement of €1.3 million funding for a pilot scheme to provide children experiencing food poverty with free hot meals outside the school term.
Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development, Integration, and Charities Joe O’Brien commented: “Food poverty is an issue I have prioritised during my term in Government. It has become increasingly clear that the Hot School Meals Programme is hugely successful but holiday hunger is a problem. That’s why I am delighted today to announce funding for pilot projects to work to address the issue of holiday hunger.”
“The fear and anxiety of how to fill weeks with food consumes hundreds of families. Today, we not only see an acknowledgement that holiday hunger is a real and pressing issue, but we also see funding of €1.3 million behind a solution that supports the existing organisations and community groups who have been bridging that gap,” commented Ms Ward.
Dóchas, the Irish network for international development and humanitarian organisations, was disappointed at the lack of additional funding for development and humanitarian assistance, calling it “a missed opportunity to support those who are furthest behind”.
In their pre-budget submission, Dóchas had sought an increase of €292 million, which would bring Ireland up to 0.37% of our 0.7% target of spending for overseas aid.
Irish Aid, the Government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme, was allocated an additional €35 million in Budget 2025, bringing its total budget to €810 million (4.5% increase)
John McGeady, CEO, Social Justice Ireland (SJI) stated that Budget 2025 “has condemned Ireland’s more vulnerable households to prolonged hardship”, saying that the measures introduced over the past two Budgets have widened income gaps.
Susanne Rogers, SJI research and policy analyst, suggested that “sustained income adequacy should have been a key focus of Budget 2025” rather than the temporary one-off payments introduced.
She added: “Beneath the cost-of-living pressures is an ongoing crisis of poverty. This longstanding problem requires sustained support for income adequacy, and appropriate increases in core social welfare rates, something the swathe of once-off lump sum payments fails to really tackle.”
SJI had called for a €25 increase in core social welfare rates, substantially higher than the €12 increase announced.
A statement from the organisation added: “There’s no attempt whatsoever to reduce poverty in line with the Government’s own targets in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2021-2025.”
According to SJI, Budget 2025 also contained “limited measures to tackle energy poverty and long-term energy costs”.
Labelling Budget 2025 as “fiscally irresponsible”, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said: “We are using potentially transitory corporation tax receipts to fuel a pre-election giveaway.
“Government could have provided the €700 million needed for a second tier of child benefit to protect the most vulnerable children and lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty. Instead, it disgracefully chose to prioritise the wealthiest and most powerful with cuts to inheritance tax. These are real choices that have real consequences and show a disregard for social cohesion and intergenerational equity.”
ALONE, the charity which enables older people to age at home, says that while increases to the State pension are welcome, the Budget has not gone far enough in supporting older people, particularly those who are living alone.
ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan commented: “Given the rapidly changing age-profile of our citizens – with a million of our people over 60 today, a figure set to increase dramatically in the years ahead – one-off payments and modest rate increases are not an adequate response to the changing face of Irish society.
However, ALONE welcomed additional funding for housing adaptation grants, which the organisation said was “overdue”: “We were pleased to see the review of housing adaptation grants finally published last week, and hope demand for these grants can finally be met,” Mr Moynihan added.
The Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) said that the budget missed an opportunity to address structural issues to progress disability, equality and inclusion.
Budget 2025 announced €336 million funding for disability services, however, DFI CEO Elaine Teague said that this is not enough to address the issues experienced by disabled people from the shortfall in services.
She noted: “We look forward to getting more clarity on how the €366m is allocated.”
Ms Teague added that disabled people have been calling for a recurring Cost of Disability payment for decades and they are still not being heard.
“While we are not disregarding the €400 one-off payment, the cost of disability is ongoing. Disability is not a one-off, and it can’t be tackled with unpredictable one-off payments.”
Friends of the Earth expressed frustration that the Budget failed to include “enough innovative measures to make the climate transition more inclusive and fairer”.
The environmental campaigning organisation did welcome incremental increases in climate investment but lamented the “massive missed opportunity of sinking €500 million into untargeted universal energy credits”.