The European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland has described the Government's new anti-poverty plan as a "catalogue of missed targets and missed opportunities".
The group says that the economic boom of the last ten years has left "hundreds of thousands" behind and at a time of unprecedented wealth the Government is in danger of "squandering the opportunity to eliminate poverty in Ireland".
An EAPN Ireland delegation addressed the Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs this afternoon to discuss the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPs Inclusion).
Mr Robin Hanan, co-ordinator of EAPN Ireland who led the delegation, said: "The economic growth of the last ten years has left hundreds of thousands of people behind. While the Government has accomplished a great deal the reality is that in a time of unprecedented wealth we are in grave danger of squandering the opportunity to eliminate poverty in Ireland".
"The sad reality is that this new plan, coupled with the previous anti-poverty plans constitute a catalogue of missed targets and missed opportunities. While the last three budgets have contained redistributative elements, overall we have seen the target to eliminate consistent poverty abandoned," added Mr Hanan.
Candy Murphy, Policy Officer for One Family, which works with lone parents, referred to the very high levels of poverty among that group. "We were disappointed with the recent NAPS plan due in large part to the lack of concrete targets aimed at reducing currently very high levels of poverty among one-parent families," said Ms Murphy.
Bríd O'Brien, Policy Officer for the INOU, pointed to the worrying increase in the number of long-term unemployed, up 4,000 people on 2002. Patrick Burke, Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, accused the plan of a lack of ambition when it came to the difficulties facing homeless people.
"The strategy could have been far more ambitious in terms addressing the needs of people at risk of homelessness and those currently using homeless service," he said.