The European bishops hope that “the recovery fund will help the weakest economies, the economies most touched by the pandemic to grow, and to be there for people... so that also the next generation can live in peace and in certain prosperity,” said Cardinal Hollerich.

“Over the coming years, we will continue to advocate to ensure that measures to tackle poverty are a key priority” – SVP.

“Rebranding private rent as social housing has not worked. Removing homeless families from official data as a policy response has not worked. Rebuilding Ireland has not worked” – Social Justice Ireland.

“The lack of reliable data, from construction generally to social housing to homelessness, is unacceptable and provides a poor base for policy-making” – Social Justice Ireland (SJI).

According to SJI research, 104,000 people in employment live below the poverty line

Social Justice Ireland (SJI) stated that Budget 2018 has given modest improvements for some but failed to get to grips with the scale of the crises needing to be addressed.

“A real republic will stand for social justice and for equality. Social Justice Ireland calls on leadership from all sectors of Irish society to become part of a debate on a new social contract for a new century,” said Dr Seán Healy.

“It is clear to us the economic recovery isn’t being felt by all as we are supporting parents who are under huge strain to meet the needs of their children because of the absence of appropriate quality public services” – Fergus Finlay, Barnardos.