FAIR AND enlightened policies designed to promote social wellbeing, should be adopted by Government as an essential aspect of economic recovery. Spending billions of taxpayers’ money to rescue the banking system may be unavoidable, but its innate unfairness should be balanced by budgetary action that defends the most vulnerable in society. In drafting a difficult December budget, Ministers cannot only confront the issue of unemployment but broaden their agenda to protect the needy and the homeless.
The Economic and Social Research Institute has warned that Ireland faces a very challenging situation because of the recession, with a much greater risk of consistent poverty and social exclusion. Those most under threat of being caught in a deepening poverty trap are the long-term unemployed, lone parents and those unable to work because of illness or disability. Welfare payments have already been cut for these people and further action of that nature would lead to greater social unrest, consistent poverty and hopelessness.
We discovered – once again – during the Celtic Tiger years that a rising economic tide does not lift all boats. That only happens if government policy deliberately redistributes wealth downwards. Instead, the boom years were marked by tax breaks for the wealthy and by a general reduction in income taxes. Later, some progress was made on the welfare front and older people received higher pensions. But government targets for cutting consistent poverty were not met.
When the present financial nightmare ends and the banking system has been recapitalised, do we want to re-emerge as one of the most unequal societies in the developed world? Or do we seize this opportunity to introduce fundamental change? Last year, the Government-sponsored National Economic and Social Council argued that economic and social progress should be complementary: that people did better when their basic needs were met and they were given a sense of purpose. The Nordic countries are attractive examples in that regard, when compared to the United States, where inequality has become a corrosive reality.
Organisations such as St Vincent de Paul, the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and many others are doing tremendous work in caring for the homeless and the deprived. But as donations to them diminish, demand for their services rises. It is an impossible situation and one the Government should not exacerbate through further welfare cuts. A new social construct is required.