European Commission

The European Court of Auditors has just published a special report on child poverty in the EU entitled 'Combating child poverty – Better targeting of Commission support required'.  The report finds that child poverty remains a serious issue in the EU, and unfortunately, child poverty is likely to become even more prevalent in the aftermath of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.  The report recommends that the European Commission target and monitor investment in tackling child poverty, particularly in the period of the new budget period 2021-2027.

It is concerning the new Programme for Government does not mention youth unemployment or a strategy to tackle it, particularly given the manner in which young people will likely be disproportionately affected by unemployment as the economy recovers from Covid-19. 

Restructuring agriculture and supporting and incentivising farmers to move to more sustainable agricultural practices is integral to a Just Transition in Ireland.  One of the fundamental principles of a Just Transition is to leave no people, communities, economic sectors or regions behind as we transition to a low carbon future.  A clear pathway for the farming community outlining how they will be supported as part of a Just Transition, and the benefits of sustainable farming practice to our environment, natural capital and to their household incomes is essential.

“Economic growth is not an end in itself. An economy must work for the people and the planet.”  So begins the European Commission’s Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy, also referred to as the European Green Deal, consisting of four dimensions:  environment, productivity, stability and fairness.  The Sustainable Development Goals will be “at the heart” of the EU’s policymaking and action to move towards the objective of offering younger generations in Europe a sustainable and prosperous future.

The European Commission last week (05 June 2019) published its Country Specific Recommendations for Ireland as part of its European Semester work programme.  The three recommendations for 2019/2020 focus once again on the need for Ireland to broaden the tax base, as well as supports for low work intensity households and targeted investment.  These are areas on which the European Commission have made recommendations previously and, while Ireland has made some improvements in recent years, we have a long way to go.

In the first quarter of each year the European Commission release its Country Report for Ireland, detailing its review of the current economic situation, Ireland’s progress with country-specific recommendations previously made by the European Commission, and setting out reform priorities for Ireland in the coming year. In our initial response to this year’s report, Social Justice Ireland welcomed the focus on a number of key areas and set out our proposals on how Ireland might respond to the Country Specific Recommendations.

The Government has today published its National Reform Programme 2018, as submitted to the European Commission.  In informing this process Social Justice Ireland submitted two papers to the Department of An Taoiseach - our comprehensive Europe2020 report and our analysis on the Country Specific Recommendations set out in the 2018 Country Report for Ireland.

In the most recent, and high-profile, mortgage sale, Permanent TSB this week announced its intention to sell 14,000 non-performing mortgage loans.  Some commentators have suggested that, instead of selling these loans, that individual borrowers be allowed to ‘make a deal’ with the lender to buy the loan at the intended sale price.  However, this solution is too simplistic. 

The European Commission has just published the 2017 Country Specific Recommendations for Ireland, accompanied by an assessment of Ireland's National Reform Programme and 2017 Stability Programme.  This forms part of the European Semester process.  Social Justice Ireland's initial response to the Country Specific Recommendations is available below.