The pre-budget submission of CORI, together with the other submissions I have received, will be fully considered in the context of the forthcoming 2004 budget. The CORI submission argues that the effect of Government budgetary decisions relating to tax reductions, social welfare increases and other factors has been to increase income inequality in Irish society.
An important goal of Government policy has been to maintain and enhance Ireland's economic competitiveness, thus creating the conditions for the unprecedented levels of economic growth we achieved over that period and the resilience with which the economy is withstanding the current economic slowdown. That economic growth has led to an increase in overall employment of over 40% and a reduction in unemployment to half the EU average by end 2001 and to half the EU average long-term unemployment rate.
Being in employment is by far the most effective way to secure oneself against the risk of pov erty and social exclusion. Long-term unemployment in particular is very closely associated with social distress, as people who have been jobless for a long time tend to lose the skills and the self-esteem necessary to regain a foothold in the labour market unless appropriate and timely support is provided. This Government introduced a whole range of employment support measures, such as the back to work and the back to education allowance schemes, designed to assist the long-term unemployed, in particular, making the difficult transition back to employment. These, coupled with the economic growth, have reduced significantly what had been a major source of poverty and deprivation in recent decades.
The price of the rapid economic growth and the Government actions to incentivise and promote this growth is an increase in income gaps between the growing numbers in employment in good quality jobs and in two income households, and those who are unemployed, some of whom are in jobless households. However, while their relative position may have worsened compared to those in employment, their actual position in terms of better living standards has been steadily improving. Consistent poverty, which measures degrees of deprivation among those on low incomes, has fallen by almost two-thirds from 15.1% in 1994 to 5.2% in 2001. The Government is committed to reducing consistent poverty to below 2%, and ideally eliminating it by 2007.
The Government's determination to continue to seek to improve the position of the most vulnerable in our society is reflected in the revised NAPS and again in the recently completed national action plan against poverty and social exclusion.