Mary Harney
Ceist:31 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Social Welfare the implications for Ireland of the German decision to oppose the £100 million of the European Anti-poverty proposal in the Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - European Anti-Poverty Proposal.
I am disappointed, as I know that many Members on both sides of the House are, that agreement could not be reached at last week's Social Affairs Council on the proposals for a fourth EU Poverty Programme. The issues will come up again for discussion at the Social Affairs Council in June. The three EU poverty programmes that have been implemented to date have been very successful in increasing awareness of poverty across Europe and have encouraged new thinking and new approaches to this issue. The delay in agreeing this proposal sends the wrong signal to the poor and unemployed of Europe.
I am confident that the arguments of the other member states will convince our German colleagues that the poverty programme — which accounts for a mere .03 per cent of the overall EU budget — has a very important role in a people's Europe and a Europe that is concerned about the situation of disadvantaged communities and groups within the union.
Three Irish pilot projects are funded under the existing Poverty 3 Programme which ends in June. I am satisfied that these projects have had considerable success in achieving their objectives and now that their European funding is coming to an end in any event, the priority must be to ensure that their activities are continued and the lessons that have been learned from the projects are taken on board. The work of the projects is relevant across a number of different Department and agencies and I am arranging for discussions with those agencies to see how the work of the projects can be built on for the future.