The Government must adopt a programme to develop a fairer Ireland by tackling social inequality across the board, the Conference of Religious in Ireland warned today.
Cori one of the social partners, said social provision and sustainability must be given equal priority with economic development.
Fr Sean Healy, director of Cori Justice, warned despite dramatic economic successes Irish society still has many problems some of which continue almost as if they were acceptable.
"These include growing levels of poverty, an unequal income distribution, high levels of illiteracy including high rates among young early school-leavers, insufficient social housing, growing social exclusion and problems of racism and discrimination. In no way is this list complete; however, it underscores the necessity to look more broadly at our recent success, assess its limitations and downsides and take action to address these problems," he said.
Fr Healy said Cori's 242-page socio-economic review for 2006, due to be published tomorrow, acknowledged Ireland's substantial economic progress over the last few years.
But he added: "In 2006 it is clearer than ever that Ireland is a country of growing socio-economic divides. Any society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable people. By this measurement Ireland is failing. Despite the substantial resources which have been available, Ireland's poorest people have been effectively excluded from what is required to live life with dignity.
"As this review shows, the rich/poor gap continues to increase. Consequently our already unequal society grows more unequal. A reversal of this trend will only occur if we as a society focus on developing a fairer Ireland."
Fr Healy said a programme to develop a fairer Ireland with policies to ensure economic development, social equity and sustainability was required.
He said the Government was claiming it could bring Ireland's infrastructure and social provision up to EU average levels while continuing to have one of the lowest total tax-takes of any country in Europe.
"It is an obvious reality that Ireland can never hope to address its deficits in infrastructure and social provision if we continue to collect substantially less tax income than that required by other European countries. Small increases in taxation are certainly feasible and there is little evidence to suggest that such increases would have any significant negative impact on the economy.
"Cori Justice believes that these increases should not be attained through income taxation, but rather via reforming and broadening the tax base so that Ireland's taxation system becomes fairer," the review states.