Call for more local action on poverty

The Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) has called for new approaches to support the delivery of national anti-poverty policies at local level.

It issued the call at the publication of a report which found that better integration between national and local government structures would improve the lives of people living in poverty.

The report, Poverty and Social Inclusion: Linking Local and National Structures, by Seán Ó Riordáin, of ERM Consulting, was unveiled yesterday by Minister for Social and Family Affairs Séamus Brennan.

It found that although the building blocks necessary to integrate poverty and social inclusion were in place, there was a need to create and reinforce important links between local and national levels. "These linkages are essential to ensuring that national commitment in relation to poverty and social inclusion are translated into the local implementation framework," it said.

The CPA, in response to the report, issued its policy document. It called for a national implementation group to be established with a role in monitoring delivery of the national action plan for social inclusion, to be launched by the Government next week. It pointed out that central and local priorities were not aligned.

"There is a perception at local level that too many new partnerships and programmes are being developed, rather than building on existing structures," the policy document said.

"There are too many special programmes and short-term initiatives, and ambiguity regarding their level of priority."

CPA director Helen Johnston said that better alignment of central and local priorities would result in a greater sense of local ownership of programmes. "National policies must be informed by local experience," she said.

The Minister said that the report would act as a road map for the Government and added that almost €50 billion had been allocated for social inclusion in the National Development Plan.