Ireland fails to protect its weakest citizens

IRELAND spends less to protect its poor, sick and vulnerable citizens than the vast majority of EU countries, according to new figures, which are a damning indictment of the Government’s tenure in office.

Despite record resources at its disposal tax revenues in the first six months of this year alone reached €17.2 billion Ireland lags far behind countries like Sweden, France and Germany when it comes to spending on social protection.

The Government's record also fares badly against the 10 much poorer states whose accession to the EU last year brought total membership to 25.

Ireland spent just 16% of its GDP on social benefits in 2002 the latest year for which figures are available compared to an average of 27.7% for the EU-25.

The highest spenders were Sweden at 32.5%, France at 30.6% and Germany at 30.5%. Only Estonia and Latvia, at 14.3%, and Lithuania, at 15.2%, had worse records.

The statistics were released yesterday by Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency.

The Opposition said the lack of Government spending was one of the main reasons why we have the highest poverty levels in Europe despite possessing one of the best economies.

"There are still people in this country who go without a hot meal during the day, and who can't afford basic items like a pair of shoes," said Fine Gael social affairs spokesman, David Stanton. "That's disgraceful given the resources at the Government's disposal.

"We need to have more targeted, increased spending in the areas where it is needed most."

His Labour counterpart, Willie Penrose, said Ireland's high poverty levels were not surprising given the lack of investment in social protection.

"There are more than 900,000 adults and 240,000 children living in poverty," he said. "There's a whole range of society for whom we haven't provided a decent standard of living: lone parents, the disabled, migrant workers, asylum seekers and more.

"And as well as having one of the least generous social welfare systems, our system is overly reliant on means testing. The system remains a barrier to a rights-based approach."

Social protection includes items such as old-age and widows pensions, child benefit and maternity leave, sickness and disability allowances.

The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs conceded that the level of Irish expenditure on social protection "appears to be low by EU standards", but it said the use of GDP for comparison purposes was problematic, saying: "In recent years, social expenditure has risen strongly but has been surpassed by even stronger growth in GDP during the 1990s."

In addition, the department states, unemployment rates here are among the lowest in the EU.