Speaking at the launch of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy Report
I am very pleased to be here for an important milestone in the development of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. I will leave it to my colleague, Dermot Ahern to outline the main features of the Reports which we are launching today.
In looking back over the last year of progress under the NAPS, it is clear that it represents an important dimension of our overall economic and social policy development. Its importance arises at a number of levels.
Firstly, it provides a continuing focus on the most disadvantaged in our society, defined as the consistently poor, who combine both low relative income and a lack of specific, basic amenities. I know that there can be controversy about the interpretation of data on the distribution of incomes, for example, how do we evaluate the situation where more people may be below a relative income line, but by a lesser extent than before? I know also that the concept of relative poverty challenges us to define what are the essential requirements for full participation in our society.
Secondly, the NAPS is important because it highlights the need for co-operation across policies, programmes and Departments. The NAPS was developed as an attempt at better co-ordination. This Report shows that, in many areas, this is being achieved. Such co-ordination is securely based when it reflects the views and experiences of those at the receiving end: those experiencing poverty, and those working on the ground on a daily basis with the marginalised in our society.
The NAPS is also important because it has become integrated into our policy making system. The adoption of guidelines on poverty-proofing is, in the long run, likely to be the most significant development reviewed in this Report. As a process, it is at an early stage. We have much to learn in applying it to key decisions. However, the Governments commitment to keeping the impact on poverty at the heart of decision making will continue, not least in respect of the forthcoming National Development Plan.
Reviewing our Achievements
The NAPS identified the central role of job creation in the tackling of poverty. We can, therefore, take particular pride in Irelands job creation record over recent years. We began the 90s with 1.16 million at work and an unemployment rate of 13%. We will end the 90s with 1.55 million at work - an increase of one-third, and an unemployment rate of about 5%.
It is particularly gratifying that the numbers experiencing long-term unemployment have also fallen dramatically.
This is a tribute not only to the strong economic performance over recent years, but also, to the focus of policy over the same period. Through fine-tuning our extensive labour market programmes, by having a targeted approach to tax reform, by prioritising investment in our human capital and by providing a climate of stability and confidence, we have used economic instruments to achieve important social goals.
Nowhere is this more striking than in the case of emigration. At the beginning of the decade over 56,000 left this country for lack of choice. Last year, over 44,000 came to work in this country, most of them returned emigrants. I realise that many still feel obliged to leave our shores, some poorly prepared for their new life. However, given the corrosive effect of emigration on individuals, families and whole communities down through the decades, I regard this as one of the most significant social developments of our recent past.
Progress through Partnership
It is no accident that we have had strong growth with positive social results over recent years. Social partnership has been at the heart of our success. Trade Unions, Employers, Farm Bodies and more recently the Community and Voluntary Sector have worked closely with Governments to find sensible, strategic answers to our problems. They, through their efforts have reinforced the direction of policy in favour of employment growth and a more equitable society.
I know that, at this time, questions are being asked about whether our social partnership model can continue.
I believe that it can and that it should, provided that it continues to be in tune with the needs and the realities of our economy and our society. We will be engaging in negotiation on these matters in the Autumn.
For my part, I want to make it clear that I see an important challenge for us all - Government and Social Partners alike - in building a more inclusive society. At the end of the day, our people are concerned not just with maximising our economic growth. They know that life is about more than just that.
They want confidence about the future, for themselves and their children. They want a sense of security about their future at work, both in the ability of their firms to succeed, and in their own capacity to upgrade their skills.
They want a sense of confidence that issues affecting the quality of their life - like access to affordable housing and decent public transport - are being addressed. They need to have confidence in the safety of their food and the quality of their environment.
In other words, our people now, as in the past, need confidence in a vision of the future. In my view that vision must be of an Ireland based on fairness; where each individual is supported to achieve his or her full potential, whatever their gender, social class, religion or address. In short, we need to build a society where there is confidence that people have the necessary social, cultural and economic rights to complement and give substance to their political and legal rights as citizens.
Building an Inclusive Society
I want, therefore, to put the NAPS in a wider framework this evening. The Government is committed to the continuation and deepening of the fight against poverty. However, we want to do this in the context of a Strategy for Social Inclusion.
The Government is committed to establishing a society where all of our citizens have the opportunity, and the incentive, to participate fully in the social and economic life of the country. With the solid foundation based on the tackling of poverty, we want to halt the drift towards the development of a two tier society in Ireland.
We have already made an important start. We have established a Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion which I chair and which is one of the most active Committees in the Government. We meet regularly and frequently to give political direction at the highest level to tackling the various problems of social inclusion. We do this by approving strategies and programmes which link Departments in the interests of tackling social exclusion.
For example, we have approved allocations from a £30m fund for Young Peoples Facilities and Services, focused on areas with the most acute drug problems. We have initiated a family support programme under Minister Frank Fahy to bring together all of the resources of the statutory bodies and voluntary agencies working at local level to support families whose complex needs present the greatest risk of transmitting poverty and exclusion from one generation to the next.
We have established the Integrated Services Process in four pilot areas, bringing together all of the statutory bodies to take a fresh look at the needs of our most disadvantaged communities, based on Partnership and starting with the views of the consumer.
We have initiated a new programme of construction of physical amenities in disadvantaged areas, where three Departments - Education & Science, Environment & Local Government and Social, Community & Family Affairs - have combined to fund halls which are available, not just for school pupils, but for the whole community.
We have initiated new approaches to the problem of homelessness, to the problem of literacy, especially among the unemployed, and to the need for more effective supports for young and vulnerable lone parents.
We are supporting Minister Frank Fahy as he develops a strategy for children across all the relevant Departments. We are supporting the preparation of policy statements in the form of White Papers on early childhood education and rural development by Ministers Micheál Martin and Noel Davern respectively.
In these, and other ways, this Government is building a more inclusive society,
· so that more people are included in the world of work
- by tackling unemployment;
· that more people are included in the fruits of economic growth
- by securing adequate incomes from work and benefits;
· so that more people are included in supportive relationships at home and in the community
- by supporting the family and caring communities;
· so that more people are included in decision making
- by tackling alienation in deprived urban areas and renewing local government, with better links to the whole local development process.
This is the vision of an inclusive Ireland which the Government is seeking to develop. It is a challenge to be faced up to by the Social Partners and by all who have a stake in the future of our society. It is the context within which the tackling of poverty is likely to be most effective. It is the context within which todays Reports and the new targets for the NAPS, should be seen.
I now have pleasure in inviting the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Dermot Ahern to introduce the Reports being published today.
ENDS