TDs angry over abolition of poverty agency

ANGRY TDs yesterday expressed concern over the abolition of the Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) and its merger within a government department as it was revealed that 40% of the agency’s staff have been lost.

It emerged at a heated discussion at an Oireachtas committee that the new division into which the agency has been subsumed will also play no advocacy role in the fight against poverty.

Committee members called for an overhaul of the new division’s plans torespond to the urgent matter of people going hungry and losing their homes amid the economic crisis. The CPA was formally abolished on July 1 and merged with the Office for Social Inclusion into a new division within the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

It as yet has no title and its former director Hugh Frazer this week told the Irish Examiner, the setting up of the new division was a “very closed process”. The division’s new director Gerry Mangan yesterday admitted to the Oireachtas Committee on Social Affairs that his unit would not act as anindependent body.

“We don’t have an advocacy role like the Combat Poverty Agency... but [we] will ensure the advocacy of non-governmental groups and their critique is directed to policy makers,” he said.

It emerged yesterday that 15 of the CPA’s 25 staff have moved to the new division, leading to a loss of 40% in posts. Another 10 positions in the unit were filled from the department’s Office for Social Inclusion, including its director Mr Mangan.

Labour’s Róisín Shortall said she was very concerned at the loss of CPA staff, insisting it was a “very substantial loss of expertise”.

Mr Mangan replied there were plenty of department civil servants with third-level qualifications who could fulfil roles. But those staff positions were not guaranteed if they became vacant, committee members heard.

The division’s budget remains undecided. It will use the CPA’s €4 million and the Office for Social Inclusion’s €140,000 from 2009 budgets. Its funds will be set by the end of the year.

Committee member Nicky McFadden expressed her opposition at the merger of the two bodies, warning that Ireland had one of the worst reputations for child poverty in Europe.

The senator questioned what savings the taxpayer had made from the merger.

Mr Mangan defended the setting up of the newdepartment division, saying it would pool experts from both agencies. Its strategic plan would be ready by September, he added.

Committee members were angry, however, at the lack of information about the new unit and questioned its role in addressing the current urgent povertyissues. Mr Mangan agreed the national plan for social inclusion up until 2016 needed to be revised considering the economic crisis.