FIANNA FAIL’S general election manifesto will propose a “basic income” of at least €230 a week for everyone, regardless of means, a system that would replace social welfare payments.

Willie O’Dea, Fianna Fail’s spokesman on social protection and social equality, will outline the plan when he launches the party’s new social protection policy document in a few weeks’ time.

O’Dea will suggest that a “guaranteed minimum income for all would almost eradicate the scourge of poverty in society”.

The social protection document says the current taxation and social welfare system has many shortcomings, including the fact that certain kinds of socially important work, such as caring, are not recognised, and that tax credits are not refundable.

“A system of basic income is not as far