Action Needed to Prevent Reversal of Progress on Poverty
Action Needed to Prevent Reversal of Progress on Poverty
“EAPN Ireland call for Jobs Strategy and Plan for Tackling Poverty”
A decade of progress on poverty in Ireland will be reversed without immediate action from the Government, according to Anna Visser, Director of the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland. Speaking before the launch (05/02/10) of the Irish programme for the 2010 European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Ms. Visser called on the Government to ensure a lasting legacy for the 2010 year; including a job strategy, a commitment on no further cuts to the incomes of the poorest in society, and a plan for how the Government will reach its own target of eliminating consistent poverty by 2016.
“Relative and consistent poverty rates have been declining in Ireland for nearly a decade, but we are now at a tipping point in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. If Government policy continues to ignore the unemployment and social crisis in favour of banking, construction and cuts to public services, then it is highly probable that Ireland will see a considerable increase in poverty rates in years ahead”.
“The Government’s obsessive focus on the banking and construction sectors means that decisions made in the last two budgets exacerbated the employment and social crisis that Ireland is facing. There are over 420,000 people on the live register and they have had no indication at all that their plight is a priority for the Government. Similarly, the Government has been totally silent on the massive crisis in terms of youth employment – one in three young men under the age of 24 is now unemployed. Just 6.7% per cent of employed people are at risk of poverty in Ireland but that figure rises to 23% for unemployed people.”
Ms Visser continued:
“2010 is an opportunity for the Government to provide a positive vision of how Irish society can emerge from recession and how we rebuild and strengthen our social and economic foundations.” The European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland will play a crucial role in lobbying and campaigning around its objectives for the 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Those objectives and campaigns include:
- Securing a roadmap from the Irish Government on how it intends to meet its own target – as set out in ‘Towards 2016’ – to reduce consistent poverty to between 2-4% by 2012 and to eliminate it entirely by 2016.
- EAPN Ireland will – through its campaigns and alliances – lobby the Government to develop and implement a comprehensive activation plan to get people back to work. Less than two years ago, Ireland had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union. It now has one of the highest.
- EAPN Ireland will campaign against any further cuts to the incomes of the poorest and most vulnerable in society.
- EAPN Ireland is calling on the Government to develop a comprehensive ‘participation in policy making’ framework to build on the success of the Social Inclusion Forum.
EAPN Ireland will hold an international conference “Building Social Europe: From Crisis to Opportunity” in Dublin on 19th February to discuss how best to tackle and eliminate poverty in the European Union over the next decade.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland lobbies and campaigns for a stronger social dimension to policymaking at European and national level. EAPN Ireland is a network of groups and individuals working against poverty and social exclusion. The organisation is the Irish network of the European Anti-Poverty Network. EAPN Ireland works towards keeping poverty at the top of the Irish and European agenda through training, lobbying, policy development, and information dissemination.
- More information on poverty in Ireland and Europe, and on the 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion is available from www.eapn.ie
For More Information Contact:
Mark Byrne
Communications Officer
European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland
22 Great Strand Street
Dublin 1
01-8745737 / 0877587922
Tags: 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, eapn press release, Government plan for 2010 year for combating poverty and social exclusion, jobs strategy needed, poverty in Europe, poverty in ireland
