EU Commissioner for Economic and Monitory Affairs, Mr Olli Rehn, has insulted Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people by refusing to meet the Community and Voluntary Pillar that represents these people in the social partnership process. By refusing to meet the C+V Pillar the Commissioner has confirmed that the European Commission supports the Government’s budgetary strategy which will damage the poor, the sick, the vulnerable and the unemployed. It is totally unacceptable that the European Commission supports an approach which will see Ireland’s weakest groups take the major part of the ‘hit’ for the reckless actions of greedy bankers, incompetent regulators and an inept government.
It is clear that Government has decided that those who are rich and/or strong will not be asked to make sacrifices while those who are weak and poor will bear the brunt of the Government’s budget adjustments. This can be seen clearly when Government ministers continue to assert that they must:
- Reduce welfare rates (which will hit the weakest and poorest as well as increasing poverty);
- Bring the working poor into the tax net which will deepen their poverty (more than a third of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person WITH a job);
- Reducing the funding for programmes providing services to people who are ill, old, caring or have a disability (i.e. Ireland’s most vulnerable people).
Social Justice Ireland fully acknowledges the gravity of the present situation which has been caused by a variety of groups including bankers, regulators and government itself. Very difficult decisions must be made and made quickly if the present decline is to be reversed. It is in the interest of all Irish people that the correct decisions be made now.
However, those decisions must be fair and just. They must also be seen to be fair and just. It is very symbolic that the Community and Voluntary Pillar of social partners was excluded from the round of meetings conducted by Commissioner Rehn. It does not augur well for Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people.
CORI Justice welcomes the reconfirmation by the European Council of the importance of the social dimension of the EU as an integral part of the Lisbon Strategy. We also welcome the emphasis given by the Council to the need to integrate economic, employment and social policies. However, we have heard these commitments before and in the recent past in particular there has been a failure by the European Commission to give sufficient expression in its programmes to similar commitments from the European Council.
We trust that on this occasion the Council’s decision will be followed by appropriate action by the Commission to ensure the social dimension of European policy is given equal priority with its economic dimension.
Ireland’s national agreement between Government and Social Partners, Towards 2016, emphasises the complementarity of economic and social policy. Good economic development is essential to ensure adequate resources exist to fund social development. At the same time, good social development is required if the economy is to thrive.
CORI Justice also notes the Council’s statement that: “The European Council looks forward to the Commission's proposal for a renewed Social Agenda which should play a key role in strengthening the social dimension of the Lisbon Strategy by taking account of Europe's new social and labour realities and also covering issues such as youth, education, migration and demography as well as intercultural dialogue. In this context combating poverty and social exclusion, promoting active inclusion and increasing employment opportunities for those furthest from the labour market are all of major importance. To this end all the appropriate instruments and tools available at Community level should be used.” (paragraph 14 of the EU Council’s final statement).
If these words are to be credible then CORI Justice believes it is crucial that:
Given Ireland’s target on adult literacy (which would leave between half and three quarters of a million people in the labour force having serious literacy difficulties in 2016) the European Council made some very significant calls to Member States to take concrete action to:
CORI Justice calls on the Irish Government to act immediately to give far greater priority to reducing the level of serious literacy difficulties among Ireland’s working age population.