CORI hits back at McCreevy

The Conference of the Religious in Ireland today hit back at criticism that its economic policies would bankrupt the economy.

Father Sean Healy, director of CORI’s Justice Commission, rejected claims from outgoing Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy that the social campaigning group’s economic approach was wrong.

Fr Healy said: “More people are at risk of poverty today than when Charlie McCreevy began as finance minister. Over 700,000 people are at risk of poverty. More than 250,000 of those are children.

"This is not an accident.

“In a period while Charlie McCreevy was Minister for Finance for the first time we had sufficient resources to ensure that everyone in the country had sufficient resources to live their life with dignity.

“But the policies implemented over the past seven years failed to handle this crisis situation.”

The Fianna Fáil TD, who will take up his post as EU Commissioner in November, said the government also wanted to achieve equal opportunity for everyone but the campaigners economic approach was faulty.

Mr McCreevy said groups, including CORI, get great access to many organisations and their approach often goes unchallenged.

The Kildare TD added that much of what Fr Healy and other groups say on the economy was rubbish.

Fr Healy, who addressed the Fianna Fáil meeting last week in Inchydoney in West Cork on his vision of a fairer society, said: “Shooting the messenger is no substitute for effective policies to eliminate the risk of poverty in Ireland.”

He said those at risk of poverty were receiving less than €180 a week for a single person or €420 a week for a family of four.

Fr Healy said: “In making accusations that our proposals would bankrupt the country no specific issues or analysis was given.”

The campaigner said that all of the groups policies to ensure people were not left out of the economic boom were made within “fiscally responsible parameters“.