Still ‘some way to go’ to a fairer society

THE Government must increase social welfare rates, provide more social housing and tackle the two-tier health system if Ireland is to move towards a fairer society, according to a leading social justice campaigner.

With the estimates process underway, Finance Minister Brian Cowen warned Fianna Fáil TDs at the parliamentary party conference in Cavan not to expect too much in December's budget.

But Fr Sean Healy, director of the Conference of Religious of Ireland's Justice Commission, said the Government had "quite some distance to go" to meet its own commitments by the end of its term in 2007.