No Beveridge to look after our welfare ...

WHEN times are hard, imagination should be to the fore. So it was in Britain in the early 1940s, as bombs rained down, and a future under the yoke of Nazism loomed large.

So it is now, as this State struggles under a mountain of debt, and, more importantly, faces a future when social and democratic structures will come under serious pressure.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the publication of the Beveridge Report in the UK. The report set forth a social model that came to be known as the welfare state, in which the government pledged to cater, to the best of its ability, to all its people.

The anniversary was marked a couple of weeks ago, in Dublin, by a conference hosted by Social Justice Ireland. Irish and international speakers pondered how the future might be mapped out in a manner that would live up to the spirit of Beveridge.

Today, mention “welfare state” and some will react with diatribes about social-welfare rates being too high. Apart from the lack of solidarity in that notion, it is ignorant of what constitutes the welfare state.

In Britain during the war years, there was acknowledgement that in spite of, and because of, the war, the UK was in dire financial straits. At government, it was agreed that if the country emerged from the war, a new approach to the state’s involvement in people’s lives was necessary. A high-powered committee was set up under William Beveridge to examine how best to go forward.

Five “evils” in society were identified. These were: Squalor; ignorance; want; idleness; and disease. Combined, these “evils” ensured that the country was unable to function, socially and economically. One of the main results of Beveridge was the creation of the national health service, which ensured that healthcare was available for everybody.

A new social insurance scheme was set up, and the report stated that “a revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching”.

In effect, the report was to be the basis for vast improvements in the lives of the majority of Britons, and this ultimately benefited the state as a whole, both socially and economically.

The manner in which the Beveridge report was greeted is interesting. In advance of the publication date, in Dec 1942, queues formed to get a first glimpse of it.

The populace was primed to greet Beveridge as the dawn of a better future, at a time when darkness engulfed the country.

At the Social Justice Ireland conference, Tony Fahey of UCD pointed to the fact that Beveridge was published at a time of war.

“Yet Beveridge was convinced that what was needed at that time was radical change,” said Prof Fahey.

“What he presented was a noble, but attainable, vision of how peace-time society should be organised. Today, we are at a very difficult moment, but perhaps it is the opportune time to re-imagine the European social model.”

Wherefore today?

Right now, the vista of Ireland’s social and economic future is heavy with dark clouds. Among the populace, there appears to be broad acceptance that the way in which things have been done for decades in this State led us to the current, sorry pass.

Most people would be open to the suggestion that a new path forward must be beaten if things are to get better.

In symbolic terms, the proximity to the centenary of the 1916 Rising could be a perfect platform for a new dispensation.

Our economic woes could also be an opportunity to stand up and offer hope.

Prior to the last general election, the opposition parties gave the impression that they were gung ho to change the way things were done.

Admittedly, the mockyaye alternative vision was pretty threadbare.

But there were noises about remaking politics, returning to the values of community, ensuring that nobody was left behind. Then, ushered in on a huge wave of anti-Fianna Fáil sentiment, the current crowd reverted to type. It’s as you were, folks, nothing to change here.

This is the perfect time to deploy imagination to give a battered populace some hope. Yet, nothing is being offered.

All we have is the same old, same old.

Britain, in its hour of need, was given a radical vision of the future. Now, in this country, all we’re getting is a constitutional convention, the establishment of which is little short of an insult to people’s intelligence.

In the place of vision, we are being thrown spin, an excuse by the Government to claim it represents the fulfilment of election promises. Apart from perpetuating the type of politics that has landed the country where it is, the convention also exposes a shocking paucity of imagination.

Make no mistake, apart from changes in politics, a vision for a new social model is badly required.

The long road back from our woes will be painful. There will be no quick recovery, as there was in the early 1990s once the public finances were brought under control.

Sure, there are straws in the wind which suggest that things might not get as bad as had once been feared.

Europe may have deigned to allow us be forgiven the debts accumulated by speculators from abroad (which we should never have been saddled with in the first place). Some of the emerging figures suggest we may have reached the rock bottom and are now on the long haul back up.

But irrespective of how the economy develops over the coming years, a few home truths will have to be accepted. All of the forecasters are gloomily predicting that even if recovery takes hold, unemployment is going to remain stubbornly high.

Among the young, the problem is particularly acute. Statistics compiled by the CSO, and other bodies, collectively point to an unemployment rate among under-25s of about 30%.

Even if recovery takes hold, the chances of reducing this significantly must be very slim. Yet precious little provision is being made to tackle this problem. No vision has been set out for a state in which finding work for the bulging young population will be tackled with some vigour. No vision has been set out for reshaping a society in which unemployment is going to be a considerable feature for years to come.

Now is the time to deploy imagination and resources to provide hope to the population that a bright future can be envisaged. Now is the time for a Beveridge-type analysis of society allied to a vision for change. What have we got instead? A government whose focus is self-congratulation on the reduction of bank debt, even if the reduction had precious little to do with them. And a constitutional convention that is a joke.