Vol. 543 No. 3
11 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to criticisms made by the EU Commission of the Government's national action plan against poverty and social exclusion, presented to the EU in June 2001; if it is intended to amend the plan to take account of the criticism made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26823/01]
The Irish National Action Plan Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, covering the period 2001-03, is the initial Irish contribution to an EU-wide process made possible by a provision in the Treaty of Amsterdam proposed by Ireland.
The Irish plan provides an overview of a wide variety of initiatives and is grounded in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and the national development plan and the actions ensuing from these programmes. The plan is also the result of a wide consultative process.
The deadline for submission of the plan – 1 June 2001 – preceded the completion of the ongoing review of the national anti-poverty strategy. In practical terms, this meant that the wide ranging policy developments being considered under the NAPS review could not be reflected in the action plan. This point was made explicitly clear to the EU Commission when the plan was being submitted.
Following the submission of the report, the EU produced a draft joint inclusion report which drew on the national action plans submitted by all of the member states. The draft report provides a useful summary of the main features of the national plans and a valuable overall analysis of the initial steps being taken by member states to apply an open method of co-ordination to combating poverty and social exclusion throughout the EU. My Department is currently engaged in discussions with the EU Commission in relation to a number of issues arising from the draft report.
Does the Minister agree that the submission he made to Brussels was correctly identified in the words of Fr. Sean Healy as an insult to poor people? Does he also agree that it has been severely criticised by the EU Commission? I will not go through all the criticisms or its critique but it points to the growing income disparity in our country which, I think, makes us the third or fourth most unequal country in Europe in terms of income. That has not been addressed. The Commission said the Minister has made no attempt to address the issue of spatial deprivation, of deprived areas in our cities and in rural areas. The Minister has done nothing to look at the deficiency in relation to the provision services, particularly in health and education. Is it not fair to say the Minister has been ticked off and slapped severely on the wrist by the EU Commission because he did not do his homework in relation to this submission? Fr. Healy got it right once again.
As usual, I totally disagree with what Fr. Sean Healy has to say, particularly in this regard. Ireland has led the way among all European countries in relation to—
Thanks to the Labour Party.
We had seisin of it for the past four and a half years. By the promotion of the national anti-poverty strategy, we are an example in other EU countries, and that has been acknowledged by our partners. On the spatial strategy, it is incorrect to say we have not addressed that issue.
It is not in it.
Under the Programme for Pros-
perity and Fairness, the Government committed itself to targeting 25 areas for particular attention, and we targeted those areas. Not only that, we went further than the commitments we made in the PPF. Because all the 25 areas independently chosen were major urban areas, we decided to follow on that with areas in smaller provincial towns.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government will shortly bring forward the issue of the smaller provincial towns in an equivalent programme like RAPID—
What about rural areas?
This is not to leave out particular rural areas dealt with in the Clár programme as announced by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuiv. Another 16 areas have been identified there. I reject any criticism either here or outside the House that suggests we have not looked at the issue of spatial strategy.
The difficulty with the Minister throughout the exchanges today is his failure to deal with criticism. The criticism does not come from Fr. Sean Healy; it comes from the EU Commission. Does the Minister accept that the Commission has poured scorn on the proposals that his Government has put to it to date? Specifically, there are no targets for social housing, no plan to deal with educationally disadvantaged school-children, no proposals to deal with the elderly and no gender analysis to tackle poverty amongst women. Given that the Minister and his colleagues will be in Brussels in November dealing with a two-day conference, and given that the EU Commission has such things to say about the plan that he believes to be superb, will he now change the plan he submitted last May?
Ireland spends 16% of GNP on its contribution to social protection. This is the lowest figure in the EU where the average is 28% of GNP. That is the real litmus test of this Government's commitment to tackling poverty and social exclusion. We are at the bottom of the league.
On the latter point, the Deputy unfortunately is not fully aware of the facts. The reason Ireland has spent the lowest amount in relation to social protection in recent years – and not just during this Government's term in office – by and large has to do with having the youngest population in Europe. We do not have to pay for as many older people as, for example, Italy, which pays out a huge amount in pensions.
So we do nothing for anyone else. That is wrong.
It is not wrong. Substantial increases in the region of 44% in the amount of social expenditure are detailed in a later reply.
Does the Minister accept the criticisms?
Another reason we do not have a high social protection spend is that we have the lowest unemployment in Europe. As I explained in my formal reply to the question, we are reviewing the original national anti-poverty strategy which was set out in 1997. We are reviewing not only the issues but the targets. We will feed our findings into the process.
Will the Minister change it?
I will, when the review is over.
All the Minister had to do was say that.
Deputy Hayes should allow the Minister to answer without interrupting.
The Deputy misunderstands the European process. It is a matter of discussion and negotiation until the final plan is adopted. The Irish people can rest assured that this Government will look after their best interests in Europe.
