The Justice Commission of the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) has decided to sign the new national agreement, despite describing the programme as "very modest".
CORI, which represents more than 135 religious congregations and was involved in negotiating the new agreement, said it made the decision following consultation with its members and networks. This was based on its assessment that "despite the fact that the programme is a very modest one, on balance Ireland's poorest and most excluded people would be better served with this agreement in place compared to the alternative situation of not having any national agreement."
In a statement issued today, CORI said the new programme contained "pluses and minuses" when viewed from the perspective of the poor or excluded.
The pluses included the commitment to a targeted increase in social welfare rates, the development of eight special initiatives in the area of social inclusion and the special emphasis on the development of a strategic approach to providing an infrastructure of care targeted at children, people with disabilities and older people.
The programme's minuses include the failure to commit adequate resources to tackling deficits in infrastructure and social provision and the Government's insistence that Ireland's total "tax take" remains the lowest in the European Union.
The Justice Commission said it was "deeply disappointed that more resources were not committed to tackling poverty, inequality and social exclusion".
The commission added that it intends to use the processes offered by social partnership in the years covered by the new programme to "hold the Government to account and to ensure it honours its commitments, particularly in the areas of poverty, inequality and social inclusion".