A chara, - Paul Cullen suggests, (The Irish Times, July 10th) that the United Nations Development Report's "identification of persistent poverty and inequality in Irish society is likely to prove highly embarrassing for the Government".
I doubt it. Charlie McCreevy, Mary Harney, Bertie Ahern embarrassed? You must be joking! Of course they should hang their heads in shame. But no, they will waffle through it all with aplomb. After all, don't they have, with few honourable exceptions, the trade union movement and NGOs as official partners in their continuing disregard for the weaker sections of our lop-sided society? These latter groups, these defenders of the poor and the marginalised, are the ones who should be even more "highly embarrassed". and hang their heads ,equally at least, in shame How many more reports, how many more studies will it take before rank-and-file trade unionists and community activists see that they are, at best, unwilling, gullible partners, at worst, conscious colluders, in Government-driven, Government-controlled partnerships and policies that are failing, failing, failing.
Don't take my word for it. Read what the United Nations has to say! Read what the OECD says. Read what Combat Poverty says.
A major conference (free of Government direct or indirect support) is needed, here in Ireland, of NGOs, trade unionists and progressive political and community activists to find a better way of sharing our wealth and to challenge the discredited notion that the only way forward is through "partnership". - Is mise,
Joe Kelly, Montpelier Gardens, Dublin 7.