Anti-poverty plan - Action must be taken on election vows

DESPITE the unprecedented wealth of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon — now a dim and distant memory as industry declines and thousands of jobs are lost — the stark reality is that poverty remains a dark blot on the conscience of society.

In the run-up to the General Election, the political parties are busy wooing voters with a bewildering array of auction politics, likely to be dishonoured later. Hopefully, the Coalition’s anti-poverty plan, embedded in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016, is not in that category.

Not surprisingly, this blueprint, which set out a 10-year target for eradicating ‘consistent poverty’, was strongly criticised by the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) for ignoring the thousands of “working poor” at risk of hardship and deprivation.