The continuing high incidence of child poverty is a rebuke to all of us who live in this wealthy society. And while the situation has improved considerably in recent years, reflecting a rise in general prosperity and employment levels, a great deal remains to be done if proper care and educational opportunities are to be provided for an estimated 120,000 children living in consistent poverty.
A willingness to tackle poverty and disadvantage is the hallmark of a mature, forward-looking society. Removing the causes of social unrest and potential criminality is in everybody's interests. But it doesn't come cheaply. And the issues to be tackled range across the spectrum from access to adequate health and education services, to income supports, housing and work opportunities.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan spoke during the week of confronting the blemish under which Irish children have to endure poverty, deprivation and distress in the 21st century. It was a welcome and positive commitment and was focused in particular on restructuring existing family support schemes. But unless Mr Brennan and his Government colleagues broaden their horizons and address the three primary areas of deprivation identified by Combat Poverty, the initiative will represent only a partial solution.
The need for joined-up thinking and comprehensive Government planning was increasingly obvious in recent budgets as individual ministers and their departments sought to save money by shifting responsibility for providing expensive services to other agencies. It resulted in greater bureaucracy, public confusion and a diminution of services. That is why co-ordination is required at the highest level to ensure that people in poverty have access to quality health and education services and in providing support for local and regional initiatives.
Last year, Combat Poverty criticised Government policy that froze payments under the child dependant allowance for years, while increasing child benefits. Such an approach encouraged mothers to work, it found, but it had also reduced the value of payments to families in greatest need. The need for reform was also recognised by the National Economic and Social Council and by the Economic and Social Research Institute. It would now appear that Mr Brennan, under a new Minister for Finance, intends to address these issues.
Concentrating welfare benefits among low-income families is a commendable objective. But, as Combat Poverty points out, such an initiative must become part of a much broader social reform programme by the Government if child poverty is to be eliminated.