St Vincent de Paul - Last hope for those in poverty trap

ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY launched its annual report yesterday and it will conduct its annual appeal for funds next week from December 2 to 9. For many unfortunate people, the society represents the last hope. They are the people who fall between the gaps in government services.

The people being helped are those who have essentially been left behind in the Celtic Tiger economy. It is particularly important that — despite any threatened economic slowdown — the public and the Government should keep those underprivileged people in mind.

A number of people emphasised the importance of the valuable help that they received from the charity, such as the woman who is back training to be anaccountancy technician and working full time. The way various social welfare payments are structured, she would have felt unable to help herself, if it were not for the help of St Vincent de Paul.

Irish people give generously to the society. Despite the decline in church attendance, church-gate collections have held up. The funds collected on flag days and raffles have also been constant, but the charity’s spending on assistance to people in crisis averaged at more than €3.5 million per month last year.

In Ireland, there are 285,000 people living in consistent poverty and 815,000 on the edge of poverty. Many have serious housing problems and St Vincent de Paul’s resources are overstretched. The valuable source of funds that the society traditionally got from large bequests, such as a house, has dropped dramatically from €11m in 2005 to €6.3m in 2006.

Those bequests “used to be our big cushion,” Mairead Bushnell, the chairwoman of the society, said. But the society can no longer depend on this kind of income as people are not leaving as much to charity in their wills. Hence, St Vincent de Paul has lost much of its own security.

In the midst of our current affluence many people are no longer as mindful of harder times, and they may even tend to forget that real poverty still exists in our midst. It is particularly sad that a buoyant economy should tend to promote indifference, if not selfishness.

With the forthcoming budget being drafted, the Government should be especially mindful of the role that St Vincent de Paul has played in looking after those that government services have failed for one reason oranother. It is important that the Government should be especially mindful of the society’s invaluable role as a social safety net.

If the Government is planning to tighten the purse strings, as has been suggested, it is imperative that this should not be at the expense of the most vulnerable people in society. It will indeed be a very sad reflection on our politicians, and our whole political system, if the Government cuts back on those most in need at the very time when politicians have awarded themselves such massive pay rises.

This would be the ultimate proof of unconscionable behaviour.