Wasted wealth a scandal worse than any at tribunals

We couldn't redistribute wealth when we had it, and now the poor will again have to suffer from spending cuts, writes Vincent Browne

WITHIN A few hundred yards of the hearings of the planning tribunal in Dublin Castle yesterday morning, instances of corruption were being spoken of which were of far more significance than anything being levelled against Bertie Ahern. It was in the magnificent Rotunda, with the large dome supported by 12 Corinthian columns, of what used to be the Royal Exchange (before the 1850s). The 18th-century merchants of Dublin used to stroll around the ambulatory there, discussing their important business affairs.

The important business transacted yesterday morning under the splendid dome was the launch of the annual report of Focus Ireland, the organisation which provides homes for homeless people. One of the main speakers was the founder of Focus Ireland, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy. It was she who cited the instances of corruption of far more moment than anything being discussed in the old print factory at the back of the Dublin Castle complex.

Referring to the year before Focus Ireland was founded, 1984, a year right in the middle of the great recession that preceded the Celtic Tiger, she said that there were 37 women and 57 children homeless in Ireland then. Now there are 463 children homeless. She said that, in 1984, no family had to wait more than six moths for a house. Now families have to wait at least two years, probably three years. In 1984 there were 11,000 on the housing waiting list; now there are 43,000 families on the housing waiting lists. In 1984 there were 1,100 homeless people; now there are over 5,000.

Focus Ireland chief executive Joyce Loughnan said the organisation had managed to provide housing for 109 families in 2007 and hoped to accommodate 700 families by 2010. It does this through raising funds itself and through State funding. But support from the State is uncertain and fitful. She said: "It is now, only in September, that we actually get confirmation of all our funding for this year [2008] and we have no outline of the situation for funding for next year or the year after."

Focus Ireland relies hugely on funding from members of the public - it raised over €6million last year.

Isn't it extraordinary that, given all the wealth created in this society over the last 15 years, it has not been possible to solve the problem of homelessness and cut back massively on the housing waiting lists?

The explanation for this is: the agenda was otherwise. Although for years we had been told we could not distribute wealth until we had created wealth, when we created wealth we were told there could not be redistribution, for that would inhibit the creation of even more wealth.

But worse is at hand.

This next budget to deal with the fiscal difficulties arising from the €5 billion deficit in tax revenue will focus on public expenditure cuts as the means of resolving the problem. The idea of increasing tax, apparently, is off the agenda, even though we have one of the lowest tax-takes in Europe. So public expenditure cuts will have to do, along with a few pretend cuts. Where there are real cuts they will have to come in the three spending departments: Social Welfare, Education and Health. They won't cut social welfare payments, but, very likely, they will increase social welfare payments around the level of predicted inflation, but below the predicted inflation in food costs, which is what matters. In other words, the poor will suffer, more.

On health, forget about the promises on medical cards. Remember the 2002 manifesto promise by Fianna Fáil?: "Extend medical card eligibility to over 200,000 extra people, with a clear priority being given to families with children."

And on education, forget about reducing class sizes, for a start.

Mary Hanafin is shaping up to prove her hardline credentials as Minister for Social and Family Affairs. She has already had a go at single mothers - odd, isn't it, that when a middle-class teenager gets pregnant and plans to have the child (eg Sarah Palin's daughter), everyone thinks this is great, but when a working-class girl gets pregnant and plans to have the child, then this is a serious "social problem" which has to be dealt with by curtailing the State benefits accruing to the mother and child? Now she is shaping up to have a go at what she will call a "quango": the Combat Poverty Agency, the only independent agency that analyses the nature of poverty here and publishes the results, come what may. Well "come what may" will be abolition, disguised as incorporation into the Office of Social Inclusion, where it will be emasculated.

The savings will be negligible - probably only the rent on the offices at Islandbridge - but the kudos Mary Hanafin will earn will be significant; and shutting up a critical voice on behalf to the poor will be a welcome added bonus.

It's a great little country.