Basic Income Ireland has submitted its views on the Public Consultation on the successor to the “Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025”.
In our submission, Basic Income Ireland calls for the immediate implementation of an Unconditional and Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a key step on the Roadmap for Social Inclusion and a major contribution to Implementing a meaningful Social Inclusion Policy.
Basic Income Ireland argues that such a basic income would support a more sustainable, egalitarian, caring and creative society. Some key points:
- A Basic Income would complement a package of ‘core essential’ basic services (including healthcare, housing, education, public transport and childcare sometimes referred to as Universal Basic Services), by providing cash to cover other essential goods.
- As it is universal and unconditional, it provides everyone with a clear stake in society, so directly fostering inclusion; ‘money talks’.
- The unconditional nature of the payments is a key feature contributing to social inclusion, especially for the most disadvantaged, supporting dignity and avoiding the need for means-testing and other intrusive enquiries.
- It supports a high income, high value, dynamic and resilient economy and society, giving people more agency over their choice of work, providing support for up-skilling, for entrepreneurs starting their own businesses and helping our economy to adapt in a fast-changing world.
- It supports carers and those working in the community.
- It supports creative work by providing financial security to arts workers, as demonstrated by the Basic Income for the Arts Pilot.
- We can afford to do this now, as shown in the Basic Income Ireland Paper of 2023, A Model of Basic Income for Ireland.
The submission addresses the ways that Basic Income could promote the seven goals of the Roadmap:
Roadmap Goals (2020-25) | How a Basic Income (UBI) would help |
|---|---|
1. Expanding the Opportunity of Employment | Basic Income supports an entrepreneurial society and economy, supporting people as they develop start-ups that will create future employment. It also supports workers who need to re-skill in response to automation, AI and a rapidly changing economic and social environment. |
2. Supporting Workers and Families – Ensuring Work Pays | A UBI is paid to all irrespective of income, with no deductions in UBI related to earned income, so incentivising the earning of further income, ensuring that work pays. This contrasts with the current model whereby ‘benefits’ are withdrawn as further income is earned, so acting as a disincentive to taking on paid work and encouraging the use of ‘informal’ payments. Basic Income reduces the Marginal Effective Tax Rates faced by unemployed people taking up paid work. Furthermore, it eliminates the considerable uncertainty and bureaucracy affecting claimants who take on part-time and intermittent work. |
3. Supporting Older People – Assuring Their Income | Basic Income provides a universal, unconditional, individual pension for older people that also allows them to earn additional income if they wish to do so. |
4. Supporting Families and Children | Child Benefit is already a (partial) Basic Income for children that provides vital support. In the immediate future, we endorse the call for the integration of the Child Support Payment and Working Family Payment. We also call for an adequate Basic Income for Children. |
5. Supporting People with Disabilities | Basic Income provides universal and unconditional support for people with all kinds of abilities and disabilities. It frees people from having to prove their disability in order to receive basic support. It also provides unconditional support for carers, contributing indirectly to the support of people with disabilities. We endorse additional cost-of-disability payments, to complement a UBI. |
6. Supporting Communities | Providing all with a Basic Income directly fosters a sense of belonging to the community, as everyone has a clear stake in society. Furthermore, it supports people working on community initiatives. |
7. Core Essentials: Healthcare, Housing, Energy and Food | A Basic Income directly provides for core essentials that require money, such as food, clothing and energy. It complements the public provision of other core essentials, such as healthcare and housing. As such it can be seen as part of the package of Universal Basic Services. |
Download a copy of the Basic Income Ireland submission
