Bertie’s pay hike is slap in the face for poor children

I FIND it deeply worrying that in the same week in which Bertie Ahern and his colleagues received disgusting pay increases, the CSO released statistics revealing that the rich/poor gap is as wide as ever and that childhood poverty is still a very real and prevalent factor in modern Irish society.

According to the End Child Poverty Coalition, one-in-ten Irish children lives in consistent poverty (meaning they suffer varying levels of basic deprivation on a daily basis). Fundamentally, this deprivation affects their ability toengage fully with the education system. Thus children who endure consistent poverty are rendered socially immobile and so the poverty-trap cycle begins. The Taoiseach’s acceptance of this sickening wage increase sends out the clear message that it is right to enjoy such wealth while children are left behind by a society he is charged with leading.

The Taoiseach has justified his actions by stating that the increase was recommended by an independent body. Yet this body based its recommendations on the salary scales for top executives working in the commercial sector.

To make comparisons between too completely different sectors is folly, while to act upon them is dangerous. While Milton Friedman may have had a point in stating that “the concern of business is business”, the concern of government must always be the people. By accepting the increase, Bertie Ahern has acknowledged his careerist and monetary motivations for going into politics.

He may point to our unprecedented economic growth over the last decade as justification for the 14.6% increase, but this success is irrelevant if it isn’t used to rectify glaring weaknesses in our social infrastructure.

A recent study at Georgetown University in Washington DC stated that investing significant resources in childhood poverty reduction would go a great way to decreasing the $500 million cost to the US economy attributed to the long-term effects of this problem.

Also, recent research in Britain indicates that failure to address child poverty there is costing the taxpayer £40 billion a year. Such studies show how concerted efforts to tackle disadvantage in childhood are not only morally just but also make for sound economic strategy. Organisations such as Barnardos have called on the Government to take such direct action on child poverty in the next budget.

These recommendations include raising the children’s allowance from €22 to €30 per week and extending the school meals programme. One must wonder how much more achievable such objectives would be if the money allocated to the pay increases had been channelled into these initiatives?

While I accept that poverty reduction should never be about throwing money at people’s problems, throwing money at the rich and powerful shows a baffling ignorance by the Government of the measures that need to be taken to create a more equitable Ireland.

A Taoiseach should strive to inspire moral courage and challenge injustice in our society on a daily basis. In this regard, Bertie Ahern is failing as miserably as he is in explaining his personal finances to the Mahon Tribunal.

Darren O’Keeffe

44 Leesdale

Model Farm Road

Cork