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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Jul 1995

Vol. 455 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - EU Poverty IV Programme.

I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise the failure of the Council of Ministers to reach agreement on this programme. The efforts of some propagandists, on behalf of the Minister, to say that a major concession was won by allowing this crucial matter to remain on the agenda prompted me to raise the issue. If that was winning something I am at a loss to know what losing something would be because the Minister failed to achieve EU agreement on the long awaited poverty programme.

The decision by the Ministers to keep the programme on the agenda is nothing more than political cynicism. It is the only EU programme against social exclusion and it should not be shelved. There is no justification for the inordinate delay in reaching agreement on this matter. I cannot understand why the Minister does not improve on the halfhearted effort he has made on this matter. His weak and ineffective contribution at the Council of Ministers meeting is mind boggling. No effort was made to visit his counterparts in other capitals.

This is a major programme with funding of 121 million ECUs or about £100 million. I would like the Minister to show his commitment to the programme. He stated at a committee meeting in Kildare House recently that £10 million is due to Ireland under this programme. There is considerable concern among those involved in combating poverty at the failure to reach agreement.

The poverty III programme was highly successful in a number of areas. For example, there were three very worthwhile projects in Connemara, Limerick and Dublin. I raise this matter to try to give it some degree of urgency. It is essential this programme is progressed with commitment and as a matter of urgency. I call on the Minister to put this EU programme against social exclusion at the top of his agenda.

I welcome the Deputy's support for my efforts in this regard. I share the concern and disappointment of Members of this House at the failure of the EU Social Affairs Council of Ministers to adopt the EU Commission's fourth poverty programme, due to the opposition of the German and British Governments. The Deputy and other Members are already fully aware of the background to the EU poverty programmes in Ireland and I recently addressed the Select Committee on Social Affairs on this issue.

The third EU poverty programme supported three pilot projects in Ireland aimed at piloting new and innovative ways of tackling the underlying causes of poverty. The work of these projects has been mainstreamed under the Department of Social Welfare's community development programme and other Government programmes and their future is secure for as long as they are needed.

I am convinced that there is a continuing role for Europe in promoting and supporting action and research to address poverty and fostering exchanges of experiences and best practices between member states. While the Commission's proposals for a fourth EU poverty programme involve a doubling of the budget to 121 million ECUs, the programme would still only account for 0.03 per cent of budget spending, which is less than one-third of 1 per cent. The programme contains proposals for national level projects to tackle specific poverty issues and aspects of the problem of social exclusion.

The Irish Government has strongly supported the Commission's proposals. The issue has been raised on a number of occasions with our European colleague by myself as Minister for Social Welfare, the Taoiseach and other Ministers. I raised it at the Council meeting and the Taoiseach also raised it at the Cannes Summit two weeks ago. The proposal for a fourth poverty programme which requires unanimity has, however, been blocked by Germany at previous social affairs meetings, who has now been joined by Britain in its opposition. The German Government object not only to the timing of the new programme and to the doubling of the budget but also object in principle to the proposal on the grounds that the EU has no competence to deal with poverty and that it is solely a matter for national Governments.

As I informed the Select Committee on Social Affairs, the Commission's proposals for a fourth poverty programme were on the agenda again at the Social Affairs Council meeting on 29 June 1995, having first appeared on the agenda in April 1994 when the Deputy's party was in Government and held the social welfare portfolio and they failed at that stage to overcome the German objections.

I was aware this would be a crucial meeting and personally led the Irish delegation on this issue and took the initiative in pressing at the meeting the urgent need to secure agreement on a successor programme to poverty III, having, as a Government, done everything humanly possible to try to overcome the objections of the German Government beforehand.

The majority of the other member states rowed in behind me in support of Poverty IV, arguing that there is a clear European dimension and role here; that it is difficult to comprehend or to explain the delay in agreeing such a modest proposal to ordinary people on the ground and that this delay raises serious questions about the ability of the Union to respond to the real needs of its people.

The reality is that this proposal requires the agreement of all member states before it is adopted. At the meeting on 29 June, the German and UK delegations were not prepared to agree to the commission's proposals. However, due to the support I was able to muster from other member states, we succeeded in ensuring that this item was not disposed of and remains on the agenda. It will be returned to at the next meeting under the Spanish Presidency. The important point is that the project remains on the agenda. The push was to remove it completely and shelve it. The success is that the project remains alive.

In the meantime, I have impressed on Commissioner Pádraig Flynn the urgent necessity for him to look again at the design of the Commission's draft programme to see what can be done to modify it so that perceived shortcomings can be addressed and to see how the political and cultural sensitivities of objector member states can be addressed.

In the meantime, we also need to look at alternatives if it still proves not possible to persuade the German and UK Governments to modify their stance on this issue. It is now essential for the Commissioner to come up with new ideas on how the European Union can make a real and visible commitment to tackling poverty if agreement on poverty IV cannot be secured.

We need a Europe that expresses solidarity with the poor and socially excluded. We need a Europe that has a human dimension concerned with real people and which offers a place in its society for those who are socially excluded by poverty and unemployment. A Europe that is concerned only with market economic forces and does not offer a secure future to all its people, including the unemployed, people with disabilities and minority groups, is of little value to society and will not survive.

If, again, it is not possible to secure unanimity on this issue, then Ireland will be looking for a mechanism whereby member states will be able to work together in the EU to keep poverty and social exclusion on the agenda and to allocate the funding already provided in the EU budget.

For its own part, the Irish Government is keeping poverty and social exclusion to the forefront on the national agenda following the recent Government decision to develop an anti-poverty strategy which will involve Government Departments drawing up specific plans to target poverty in Irish society. I will be urging that this action at national level should be matched by ongoing actions at EU level to ensure a continued emphasis on the need for concerted approaches aimed at reducing levels of poverty and disadvantage.

In accordance with the order of the Dáil today, the Dáil stands adjourned until 10.30 a.m. on Friday.

The Dáil adjourned at 11.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 7 July 1995.

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