Joe Walsh
Question:4 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Social Welfare when he will create and publish a new national anti-poverty strategy to which he committed himself at the recent UN Summit in Copenhagen. [6257/95]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Anti-Poverty Strategy.
Michael McDowell
Question:16 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to fight poverty and social exclusion afflicted on people in our society. [6200/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 16 together.
The persistence of poverty and social exclusion in our society in the face of favourable economic conditions is indicative of the complexity of the issue. It has become increasingly apparent that the best way to tackle this persistence and eliminate poverty is to adopt a strategic approach.
Speaking on behalf of the Government at the United Nations World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen earlier this month. I made a commitment to implement proposals to substantially reduce overall poverty in the shortest possible time and to reduce inequalities. I am at present considering how best to implement a strategy in this area. The formulation of the strategy will take place in partnership with the non-governmental organisation sector and with the active participation of target groups. As an initial step, I am forming a small co-ordinating group to do some preliminary planning in this regard. This group will include representatives from the Combat Poverty Agency, officials from my Department and my special adviser.
The process of consultation with relevant organisations including the Combat Poverty Agency, community groups and organisations representing the unemployed will get under way shortly and it is intended to have the national strategy in place by the end of 1996.
I have already begun the process of addressing social exclusion and poverty in the recent budget with a significant improvement in child benefit; in Ireland, households with children have a higher risk of poverty than those without children. I increased the monthly payment for each child by £7 and provided for a number of other improvements as a first step in tackling poverty effectively and reducing poverty and unemployment traps.
An overall comprehensive strategy will give impetus and further direction to efforts to combat exclusion.
I welcome the commitment to publish a strategy to combat poverty. I do not see why the Minister had to go to Copenhagen to make that statement as it would have been preferable to announce it in the House. However, I welcome it. Voluntary agencies have a major role to play and are doing tremendous work, not only through offering practical help of a tangible kind but in organising literacy classes for the poorest of the poor to teach them how to read and write. There is still a major difficulty in that regard. It is well worth making a major input to the area of poverty and exclusion. The voluntary bodies should have substantial representation in any such group.
I thank the Deputy for his appreciation of the announcement of my strategy. It is intended not only to publish but to implement it. It is also intended that the voluntary sector will be consulted and involved in its formulation and implementation. We are endeavouring to develop within society a more inclusive way of doing our business, of avoiding exclusion, ensuring that people with disabilities are not excluded, as they are at present and that those few who manage to obtain work are not left for most of their working lives at the bottom rung.
On why the announcement was made in Copenhagen, the answer is quite simple, the summit took place there, rather than here. It would not appear to make sense to make the announcement here when the discussion on and negotiation of the declaration were taking place in Copenhagen.
While measured by traditional economic indicators, such as growth rates, inflation rates, balance of payments, interest rates and so on, our economy appears to be in a very healthy state, the distribution of the wealth generated by years of economic growth is more problematic and there is evidence of widening disparities within our society. An example, of the growth in the numbers of long term unemployed is that in 1980, 2.8 per cent of the labour force had been unemployed for one year or more, on the basis of live register data and by 1993 that figure had increased to 10 per cent, based on the report of the National Economic and Social Forum, No. 4, Ending Long-Term Unemployment, of June 1994. Despite economic growth, clearly there is a growing gap between those who have and those who have not. The anti-poverty strategy I announced in Copenhagen is intended to address that disparity in the share of wealth created by society.
While welcoming the Minister's decision to devise and announce a new national anti-poverty strategy and the fact that he will consult directly non-governmental organisations in the drawing up of that strategy — they have a valuable role to play in that process — he did not mention a particular group especially disadvantaged, the travelling community. Would he be prepared to accept that the travelling community have special difficulties in this area? Will he consider having them represented on any body or group he establishes to implement this strategy?
Travelling community representatives comprised one of the non-governmental organisations which my Department assisted in travelling to Copenhagen for the United Nations world summit. They participated actively in the NGO forum there and had an input into the outcome of that conference. When I met the Irish NGOs in Copenhagen I made it clear I would involve all of them in the widest possible consultative process, in the devising and implementation of this strategy. No group, whether they represent travellers, people with disabilities or the unemployed, will be excluded from that process.
Will the Minister publish this study? What strategy does he intend to use to get the various agencies and Departments — Social Welfare, Health, Education — to address this problem in a co-ordinated manner? For example, due to staff shortages in health boards, many social workers are subjected to extreme pressure. How will the Minister co-ordinate this diversity of interests in order to produce the best possible service to those who most need it?
I indicated that the intention is to have the formulation of that strategy concluded by the end of 1996. On the method we will use, I have set about forming a small co-ordinating and planning group in my Department, which will include some departmental officials and representatives of the Combat Poverty Agency. My special adviser, Miss Róisín Callender, who is an expert on social policy, will be preparing an outline of the way this issue should be progressed at an early date.