THE GOVERNMENT must ensure the coming budget protects the most vulnerable in society and not erode their position further, more than 30 community organisations have said.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin was told yesterday by Frank Goodwin of the Carers’ Association of a “strong feeling” in the community sector that the economic crisis is being used by the Government as “a cover” to cut back on the agenda for social equality.
Many organisations also called on Ms Hanafin to ensure the Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) retains its independence in the face of suggestions that it be subsumed into her department.
A steering group recommended in recent days that the agency be merged with the Office for Social Inclusion, which is based in the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
The Minister said she would make a decision on the future of the agency, which has often criticised the Government over its policies on poverty prevention, within the next few weeks.
At a pre-budget forum in Dublin convened by the Minister, she was urged to fight for increases in basic social welfare payments, as well as fuel, disability, carers’, back to school and other allowances, among several measures to ensure the most marginalised do not bear the brunt of budgetary cutbacks.
With 300,000 people living in consistent poverty, rising unemployment and many elderly persons, lone parents and others struggling with soaring food and fuel bills, it is vital that the budget addresses their plight meaningfully, she was told.
Thousands of children are living daily without hot meals and warm coats and are afraid to tell their struggling parents they are hungry or need money for school books, the Children’s Rights Alliance said.
The Conference of Religious in Ireland said there must be a minimum €9.90 increase in the basic social welfare payment to €203.75, to reflect rising energy and food costs and to meet commitments under social partnership.
While stressing she would fight to ensure budgetary measures are “fair and just”, the Minister repeatedly drew attention to the global economic downturn and said there would be less money available this year. The Government had always tried to protect the most vulnerable, but there would be “nothing like the increases seen in recent years’’, she said. “A one euro increase in social welfare payments costs €60 million.”
Also yesterday, the Community Platform, a network of 27 organisations, expressed concern at reports that the Combat Poverty Agency may be subsumed into the Office for Social Inclusion (OSI) in the Minister’s department.
This would completely take away the independence of the agency and risk it becoming “another mouthpiece for Government”, CPA spokeswoman Anne Costello said.
The agency had provided “impartial and evidence-based analysis on poverty-related issues and developing workable solutions,” Ms Costello said. It had not shied away from criticising Government policy and highlighting areas where there had been room for improvement. To subsume it into the OSI “would make a mockery of its status as an independent and authoritative voice”, she said.
The CPA board has met twice this week to finalise its recommendations to the Minister about its future, which outline how it can support the Government in meeting its aim of eliminating consistent poverty by 2016.
The agency has played “a critical role’’ in developing anti-poverty policies and structures over the past 20 years and should be allowed to continue as an independent agency, the board said.