Sir, - Embarrassing excess presents its own problems, as we are learning from the wise men of economics during these weeks. With the promise of a future standard of living higher than that of the Germans, comes the news that the Department of Finance are required by the demands of fiscal rectitude to keep over £500 million of surplus taxation revenue out of reach of the people. It would seem that the second, hidden Ireland - the Ireland of the disfavoured - has become invisible to the policy-makers.
The bogeyman of inflation is the driving force of this current fiscal rectitude. Our economic growth rate is set to hit double figures this year, creating the sort of climate in which inflation thrives. The impending Euro removes our capacity to control inflation through an interest rates rise - in fact, a prospective dramatic fall in interest rates is likely pushing our present lending boom - so the Government is being strongly advised to maintain a tight fiscal stance.
All this high finance is a far cry from the needs of the people I represent in West Tallaght. Our much vaunted new prosperity is not automatically guaranteed to reach all. Indeed recent figures show that Ireland has one of the most unequal income distributions of any OECD country. The ratio of the income of the top tenth in society to that of the bottom tenth is 2.13 in Sweden, 2.32 in Germany, 3.31 in the United Kingdom and a staggering 4.54 here in Ireland. Even the US lags us at 4.35. While our capital city gasped at the boldness of a £400 million plus transport plan, Dublin Bus with withdrawing its weekend evening bus service from West Tallaght. While city centre businesses complain of a labour shortage, young males in disfavoured suburban estates go wild with nothing to do. While college places are dramatically increased, few children from disadvantaged areas are socially or economically positioned to avail of these.
There are some who blame the poor for their poverty. Life is never that simple. In disadvantaged communities unemployment is both a cause and an effect. Modern social norms contribute to social breakdown in disadvantaged communities much faster than in the wider community. The continual inability of that wider community to accept that there will always be sections of society requiring a leg up exacerbates the breakdown. An underclass develops where the children of disadvantaged are excluded from full civic participation. Elements of that underclass display its hard edge when school is out and its easy to take to the streets, thus enforcing the ongoing ghettoisation.
It is past time that the excluded be included in the fruits of our economic success. If social solidarity reasons are insufficient then sound economic ones can also be advanced. As Dr. Garret Fitzgerald pointed out recently (June 6th) our current economic miracle is partly due to demographics. To sustain it requires the continuance of a stream of able and educated young people. The people are there in their thousands in our disadvantaged suburban estates, but immediate, real investment in their socialisation, education and personal development is required. Such investment also has the benefit of being clearly anti-inflationary as it will have a negative impact on wage pressures through making more people available for work.
Estimates indicate that the Minister will have at least £500 million of an Exchequer surplus. Since tax breaks are being deemed inflationary, the Minister should instead consider substantial expenditure of a non-inflationary type on social inclusion measures. This could be achieved by providing for the major capital and current expenditure needs of voluntary and community groups working to redress the consequences of social exclusion. Such projects directly benefit those who are without jobs and would have no inflationary impact. - Yours, etc., Cllr. Mick Blane
Bawnlea Court
Dublin 24