Vol. 549 No. 3
34 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on including in the treaties of the European Union the social inclusion chapter, which was originally agreed at the Lisbon Council in March 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6297/02]
Combating exclusion is one of the main social objectives for the European Union and the member states, as set down in Article 136 of the treaty. Exclusion is a multi-faceted phenomenon and combating it involves action in a number of fields, including social protection, employment, education and housing. The main direct responsibility for combating exclusion lies with individual member states. However, provision has been made in the treaty to enable the EU in specified areas to support and complement the activities of the member states in combating exclusion and in achieving the other objectives set down in Article 136.
During the negotiations on the Treaty of Amsterdam an Irish proposal enabling the Council to adopt measures designed to encourage co-operation between member states to combat social exclusion was adopted and is now included as the last sub-paragraph of Article 137(2) of the treaty. An Irish proposal in the negotiations on the Treaty of Nice that this co-operation process be extended to modernising social protection was adopted and is now included as paragraph 1(k) of a revised Article 137 in the Nice Treaty. Ireland also proposed a basis in the treaty for a social protection committee to co-ordinate the co-operation process in the fields of social protection and social inclusion. This proposal was also adopted and is included as a new Article 144 in the Treaty of Nice. The committee is already up and running.
These provisions are designed to ensure that achieving "greater social cohesion", which is part of the new strategic goal for the European Union adopted at the Lisbon Council, is given equal weight along with the economic and employment dimensions of that goal. Much progress has been made under the new co-operation process in the field of social inclusion since the European Council in Lisbon. The European Council in Nice agreed common objectives in the fight against poverty and social exclusion in December 2000. National action plans setting out strategies to meet these objectives and the actions to give effect to them over a two year period were submitted by all member states in June 2001.
Additional Information.These plans have been fully reviewed and a joint Council-Commission report was submitted to the European Council in Laeken in December 2001. Indicators to assist in measuring progress on combating social exclusion were also adopted at Laeken. A Community action programme to encourage co-operation between member states to combat social exclusion, administered by the Commission, has been adopted and was launched in January 2002. The conclusions of the Lisbon Council do not require that any further treaty provisions to promote social inclusion are necessary for what is essentially a national responsibility. However, the position will be kept under review and, if further such provision is considered necessary, appropriate proposals, as in the past, will be made.
With regard to the upcoming Intergovernmental Conference, has the Government a position on transposing the European Charter of Fundamental Rights into EU law? The Minister will be aware this is a political declaration that emanated from the Treaty of Nice but it is not part of the EU. He will further be aware that the charter is being increasingly used by the European Ombudsman to cite unfair practices against elderly people in his effort to eliminate age discrimination. Has the Government a position on that issue in advance of the Intergovernmental Conference?
The Deputy should table a question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the latter point. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights has been discussed ad nauseum and at length by both sides in the Nice Treaty debate, including at the Forum for Europe. Perhaps Deputy Hayes will attend the forum and listen to what is being said, if he is allowed to do so by his leader.
We do not need to debate it.
Please allow the Minister to continue, without interruption.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): This is more waffle to kill time.
The inclusion of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights will be discussed by the new Convention on Europe. Perhaps Deputy Hayes will have a word with his colleague, Deputy John Bruton, who is, thankfully, involved at a high level on the convention, if he is allowed to do so by his leader.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): We appreciate the compliment.
The Minister knows something we do not.
Age discrimination against elderly people is not taking place in this State because Ireland is one of the better member states at looking after the elderly. This is illustrated particularly, as I have pointed out on more than one occasion, if one examines the Government's record over the past five years.
The facts do not stack up.
It must have been quite embarrassing for the Minister last month when, according to figures published by EUROSTAT in regard to the 15 EU member states, Ireland was at the bottom of the league in the area of social protection. The percentage of GNP spent on social protection is abysmally low by comparison with many other EU member states. In that sense is it not true that we have not seriously tried to contribute to the social inclusion debate at European level? Was it not also very embarrassing for the Minister that the very rushed anti-poverty plan that he submitted has been fairly severely criticised both in the European Parliament and the Commission for a lengthy list of omissions and its failure to address some of the major issues in Irish poverty, particularly the lack of a minimum income standard?
Has the Minister read The Social Situation in the European Union, 2001, produced by the European Commission, which refers to the facts that Deputy Broughan quite rightly put on the record of the House? It puts it clearly that Ireland has higher levels of poverty and inequality than the European average, despite the Minister's propaganda inside and outside the House. Irish lone parents have low incomes by comparison to their EU counterparts.
The Deputies quote the figures, but they do not tell the full story.
The Minister is bottom of the league and facing relegation.
Deputy Broughan, in particular, knows well the reason we have a low spend on social protection. Social protection is for sustaining the elderly and the less well off. The reason for our low spend is that we have by far the youngest population in Europe. Italy has the highest spend on social protection because it has the oldest population in the EU.
The Minister agrees with the report. What about lone parents?
In relation to people who are not old age pensioners, we have virtually full employment and this is why we spend so little by comparison with other EU countries who have a much greater unemployment rate than we have. The Deputy should not introduce figures which he knows distort the picture. We have a good record and a good message to sell. Because of the economic developments over the past five years, it is clear the country under this Government is on the up.
He is facing relegation and it is unbelievable.
Those figures are a joke, as Deputy Broughan knows. They do not tell the full story.
