Mr Trevor Sargent, the Green Party's spokesman on finance, warned the Minister not to be smug.
He said: "The economy of which you speak in such glowing terms has helped to produce a society which contains many serious flaws. We have a society that fares badly in comparison in many respects with several of our neighbouring and partner countries in the developed world."
Those affected by economic inequality represented the most marginalised in society. "What Irish Government can take pride in reports which indicate that between one-quarter and one-third of Irish children are at risk of poverty? People with disability have seen their situation improve scarcely at all during this era of the `Celtic Tiger'. The ability to house and be housed has become a very faded dream for the vast bulk of our population."
Referring to the growing incidence of homelessness, Mr Sargent said that the Cork Simon Community had reported receiving as many requests for nightly accommodation in the first six months of this year as in the whole of last, a doubling of the problem.
"Government policies, formed on indifference and inaction on the question of immigration, have placed inordinate pressures on State agencies and have confined asylum-seekers and refugees to a guaranteed poverty status, due to the Government's unwillingness to make use of the economic potential of those who are seeking the opportunity to become residents of our country."
Social justice was the ultimate goal of pursuing sustainable policies. "The Government's unwillingness to promote sustainability has helped worsen social exclusion and made it more difficult to achieve social justice."
