SOMETIMES YOU wonder what universe ministers inhabit and how detached they can become from normal life. Earlier this week, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin displayed an amazing lack of empathy when she suggested that those individuals relying on crisis-hit defined pension schemes for their retirement could always fall back on their State pensions.
Then she tried to make political capital yesterday from a Central Statistics Office survey conducted last year on the levels of poverty in our society. At a time when living standards are falling and unemployment levels are rising, her attempts at papering over the cracks in Government performance were not well judged.
The CSO reported that the percentage of the population found to be in "consistent poverty" declined significantly in 2007, to 5 per cent. But the percentage "at risk of poverty" remained almost static at 16 per cent. Consistent poverty refers to those who cannot afford necessary food, heating or clothing while individuals "at risk of poverty" have incomes of less than €228 a week. A State pension amounts to €230.30.
There are times when ministers should allow reports and statistics to talk for themselves. And this was one of them. Brian Cowen did introduce two caring budgets that addressed social dislocation in our society. And, between 1994 and 2007, the percentage of the population at risk of poverty almost halved because of unprecedented job creation. Those were considerable achievements. But with unemployment suddenly racing to a 12-year high, the CSO report for 2007 no longer reflects what is happening in society. The cost of food and fuel has devoured State allowances. And voluntary agencies, such as the St Vincent de Paul and the Simon Community, are now experiencing a huge increase in demand for their services.
This new reality is ignored. Ms Hanafin spoke instead of achieving the Government's target of reducing consistent poverty levels to between 2 and 4 per cent by 2012. It is a laudable objective. But she is whistling past the graveyard. On the basis of the October budget, which increased social welfare rates by between 3 and 3.8 per cent, at a time when inflation was running at 4 per cent, nobody in Government was taking that target seriously. And while the prospect for a reduction in inflation next year has improved dramatically because of falling commodity prices, the Minister should not attempt to take credit for such a providential development.