INEQUALITY IS likely to increase during the recession, prompting a corresponding rise in social problems such as teenage pregnancies and drug abuse, an international expert on health and income inequality has warned.
Richard Wilkinson, professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham medical school, told a conference in Dublin yesterday there was a strong link between income inequality and social problems.
"I would be very surprised if your inequality did not continue to increase as it has in the past, particularly if there is high unemployment . . . And if you allow the inequality to grow now when public services are being cut, then that is the worst possible combination," said Prof Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level– an international bestseller, which argues that more equal societies almost always do better.
He said if inequality was allowed to grow too much, governments would end up spending more on building prisons, increasing police numbers and increasing the load on public services.
He said high levels of income inequality had very negative psychosocial effects on society, which were likely to lead to higher levels of mental health issues, violence and drug abuse.
Prof Wilkinson said most policymakers mistakenly believed rising national income would improve the health outcomes, happiness and wellbeing of society.
In fact, economic growth in an already-developed economy does not continue to increase quality of life, he said.
Asked what policies the Government should implement to address growing income inequality, Prof Wilkinson recommended increasing taxes and campaigning against tax avoidance by rich individuals and companies.
“Every time a rich individual gets away with cuts, there must be greater cuts on the poor to offset that loss of government income. So the morality of it is appalling,” he said.
Prof Wilkinson made his comments at the annual conference of the Irish Association of Social Workers, which titled its event Why Equality is Better for Everyone.
Dr Sara Cantillon, co-author of Equality: from Theory to Action, said levels of income inequality had fallen in the last few years as a result of a lot of rich people having their income hit by the recession.
But she warned the standard of living of the poorest in society was falling due to the recession, citing the declining standard in housing as an example.
Fintan O'Toole, columnist with The Irish Times, said the Government had glorified inequality during the economic boom by following the ideological nonsense churned out by right-wing think tanks in the US.
He said the Progressive Democrat philosophy was that inequality was a necessary condition of economic progress, and the majority of society bought into it.
He said Ireland would not escape from the hole it is currently in unless it put social justice at the heart of its recovery.