Throwing money at poor not the answer, says priest

POVERTY will worsen and people will just take more alcohol and drugs if money is thrown at the problem, the parish priest of one of the country’s poverty black spots warned yesterday.

Father Pat Hogan of Christ the King parish in Limerick’s Southill said: “Money is not the answer. In fact, money could be a trap in many cases. If you throw money you could entrap more people in poverty.

“If in Southill you throw money at poverty, the only thing many know is to get more alcohol and drugs with that money.”

He said that increased handouts will lead to poor people digging a deeper hole into poverty unless agencies “connect” with them.

Fr Hogan said: “We must engage with people and lead them to take responsibility for themselves. Say to them, ‘You have a contribution to make’ and give them a better sense of themselves and what they can contribute.

“Do we want these people to be just carried by society all their lives and then pass this on to their own children? The challenge must be to encourage them to make a contribution to their own lives. We need to assist people to see what they can do for themselves.”

Fr Hogan said money is thrown at poverty because it makes people uncomfortable to see homeless people on the streets

He said: “There is a personal poverty where you have addiction to drink and drugs. With this personal poverty people think they are no good and have nothing to offer. What has to be done here is to get people to believe they have something to offer. If you just give money to people to survive, they will only survive and nothing is going to change.

“More contact on the ground is needed rather than more money. Money can make things worse.”

Fr Hogan said this greater contact and a new kind of contract approach could be achieved with single mothers depending on State benefits.

He said: “We could say to a mother that we are entering a contract with you whereby you are getting so many hundred euro a week. This contract would be that the mother ensured that children were cared for and went to school, and when at school they behaved themselves and were not out on the streets breaking windows.

“We are saying to the mother that we appreciate the fact you are in this situation and we will support you. But we want guarantees you will create a good home for the children, ensure they go to school and behave themselves outside the home. We will be knocking on your door if you don’t keep your side of the contract. We are saying this money is not for squandering. We are not giving handouts but saying there is a contract.”