Government blamed for poverty levels

THE Government has been accused of substantially widening the gap between rich and poor.

The Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) claimed that Government decisions have widened the rich and poor gap by 243 a week.

Spokesperson for CORI's Justice Commission Fr Sean Healy blamed bad Budgets and spending decisions for the growing divide.

"Social welfare rates have not kept pace with the improving standard of living in Ireland.

"This is a major scandal and a sad indictment of Government priorities over recent years," Fr Healy said. A CORI document entitled Poverty, Low Pay and Social Welfare published today, shows the gap in incomes has now widened to the point where single people on 50,000 a year have gained 243 a week more in disposable income than the long-term unemployed.

CORI's calculations also find the Special Savings Investment Accounts (SSIA) scheme benefits those who are better off people, but not the poor.

The document shows that the better-off have been guaranteed an increase of 14 a week in their take-home income next year under the SSIA.

This is the same amount that CORI is urging the Government to add to the lowest social welfare rates in its Budget for 2003.

The percentage of people living in relative income poverty has risen from 17.9% in 1994 to 20.9% this year. Six out of ten people in this income category are living in a household headed by a person not in the labour force.

The Justice Commission is opposing any Budget spending cuts that would damage poor people's income.

"In making its decisions, the Government has failed to honour the aims and objectives of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. These committed the Government to building a fairer and more inclusive society," Fr Healy said. "When a country has the required resources, it stands indicted, if it chooses to allocate its resources in a way that does not ensure that every person has the minimum resources required," Fr Healy said.

CORI is a Social Partner and has negotiated and signed the last two national agreements, Partnership 2000 and the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.

The organisation represents 135 religious congregations and has 12,000 members in 1,400 communities nationwide.