Trying to end poverty - President tells it like it is again

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins has made a habit of speaking truth to power and though he has not always managed to change the way we do things as he and many others might wish, he constantly urges us to do the right thing, to be better people, better citizens.

He demands that we make this a better, fairer and more loving society.

Yesterday, when he spoke to mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was no exception.

Mr Higgins spoke for the silent majority, maybe a majority grown used to being far too silent when he said he was “ashamed” of the humiliation and social exclusion homeless families, immigrants and poor people are forced to accept.

It is an indictment of us all, especially as we imagine ourselves a decent, caring Christian society, that this accusation cannot be dismissed — the evidence is all around us and may even be mounting.

But what to do? Poverty is an age-old problem and one that is never easily resolved.

The role of education and the supports needed to maximise the opportunity afforded by education are known but are not easily delivered.

Study after study tells us that our tax system is one of the most progressive in the world but a society where the most powerful lobbies can threaten chaos and use their position to leverage even more advantage hardly seems like one committed to ending the humiliation and poverty described by Mr Higgins.