Work is the best way out of poverty- Byrne

Fine Gael Dublin South Central, TD Catherine Byrne, has said that work is the best way out of welfare and that while the ESRI report published today (Tuesday) confirms this, it also highlights that we must do more to incentivise and support parents to work.

“This Government is encouraging and supporting people to make the move from welfare to work in a range of ways and today’s ESRI report only reaffirms my belief that this is the right course of action. The ESRI finds that six out of ten people would actually double their income if they moved from the Jobseekers’ Allowance to a job. Eight out of ten could earn at least 40% more by finding employment.

“The report also notes however that welfare recipients with children have less of an incentive to work. The Government has already begun to address this with in-work benefits and I’m glad to see the ESRI report validates our approach in this regard with its comments about the Back to Work Family Dividend payment for example. The report says that the ‘The Back to Work Family Dividend significantly improves the financial incentive to work for currently unemployed jobseekers with children.’ This shows the value of these schemes designed to support people taking up work and I want to see the Government develop further the system of in-work benefits in the coming months in order to make work pay for vulnerable parents.

“Absolutely no good can come from families being trapped in welfare dependence down through the generations. We simply cannot allow our recovering economy to bypass thousands of families who are locked into jobless households. Jobless households with children tend to lead to more jobless households in the future, in a cycle of intergenerational poverty. It would be irresponsible of any Government to encourage such a situation. We must continue to incentivise people back into the workplace and support them in making a better life for themselves and their children.”