Fr Healy urges rethink on poverty

THE GOVERNMENT needs to change its approach to tackling poverty, one of the foremost campaigners against inequality has warned.

Fr Seán Healy, co-director and founder of Social Justice Ireland, is calling on the Government to adopt a target of “zero poverty” by 2020, and to advocate that the EU does the same.

In a policy paper published this morning, the organisation says: “Government needs to change direction in its approach to reducing poverty. A good starting point would be for Ireland and the EU to adopt a target of ‘zero poverty’ to be reached by 2020.”

Fr Healy accepts the Government definition of poverty as having an income and resources so inadequate as to exclude a person from participating in things the rest of society would regard as normal. More than 600,000 people in Ireland live in such circumstances, over 200,000 of whom are children.

Some 116,000 of them are living in households where the head has a job – ie, the “working poor”.

Fr Healy said that while Government policies, even during the good years, failed to adequately tackle the systemic and structural issues that keep people poor, some good was done, particularly with welfare measures.

“Increasing the lowest social welfare rates was the key to reducing poverty from 19.7 per cent in 2003 to a record low of 13.9 per cent in 2008.

“This approach was supplemented by a wide range of initiatives aimed at mobilising local communities to tackle poverty effectively in their local areas.”

However, Budget 2010 is reversing this approach, he added.

Welfare rates had been reduced by more than the cost of living for poor people. Also, community development projects, which had provided vital services in 180 of the most deprived areas of the State, were being effectively wound up this year.

It was “simply untrue” to claim the Government could not afford to tackle poverty, he continued. It was choosing not to.

The Government could have increased the tax take, not through income tax increases but by broadening the tax net and ending numerous tax-breaks. It chose instead to cut expenditure.

“It is not going to be possible to build up public services and infrastructure, both of which are essential if poverty is to be addressed, unless the tax take is increased.”

He argued that more socially equal societies had better-performing economies, so it made economic sense to end poverty.

“One of the lessons we have learnt over the past two decades is that economic development and social development are two sides of the same coin.”

On the ground the Government had to invest in services such as education, family supports, housing and good public transport, as well as move towards a guaranteed minimum income.

“The official attitude seems to be that the poor are in some way to blame for being poor, that they must wait, instead of recognising the critical structural issues that must be tackled.

“This is not just about poor people. This is about the whole of society.”

Main points: 

• The situation of the poorest should be improved, not worsened, as happened with Budget 2010.

• Recognise the problem of the "working poor" which account for 39.6 per cent of all households.

• Provide substantial new measures to address the threat of long-term unemployment among those recently unemployed.

• Set a target of "zero poverty" to be achieved by 2020 and advocate that this target be adopted by the European Union as part of the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion (2010).

• Address family poverty.

Move towards introducing a basic income system.

The policy paper can be viewed in full at www.socialjustice.ie