Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Greens: June 2020

See page 74-82 of the full document here.

In the chapter entitled “Mission: A New Social Contract”, and the heading of “Anti-poverty and Social Inclusion Measures”, the programme includes the following text (page 76):

“As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, we must build upon the unity, which was fundamental in our response, to improve outcomes for those who are struggling on low incomes, struggling with caring responsibilities, having to raise their families alone, or living with a disability. Any changes made in social welfare provisions will continue to be gender- and equality-proofed. We will do this by rigorous implementation of the new social inclusion strategy, A Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025.

In addition, we will:

• . . .
• Request the Low Pay Commission to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government”.

The ESRI was funded by the Low Pay Commission to carry out their subsequent paper.