Every year, some 5,400 people die prematurely in Ireland because of inequality, writes VINCENT BROWNE.
POLITICS IS now essentially about jobs. Jobs for the boys and girls. Brian Cowen, apparently, is keen that the boys and girls who get the plum jobs do a good job, in so far as they can, but it is still about jobs. This is now, unconsciously, part of our political culture. It is in large part what the media focus on politics is about.
Hardly any attention is given to the state of the country and what needs to be done to deal with that. The massive inequality that exists is represented by a shocking statistic that is defiantly ignored by the political class and by most of the media: that 5,400 people die prematurely here every year because of inequality. Thousands more live miserable lives because of broken health, also arising from inequality. The proportion of people who die here because of inequality is significantly higher than in other European countries. Hardly any attention is given to the massive problem of sexual abuse and violence directed at children, women and, to a lesser degree, men.
Instead, the focus of the political class and the media is on jobs, because politics is no longer (if it ever was) about dealing with pressing societal issues, except as an after-thought or in circumstances of panic.
To illustrate my point about inequalities in mortalities and in health welfare generally, I wish to point to one area of the State for which data is available and where initiatives have been taken at a local level to deal with the issues. The area is west Offaly, and I refer to a document entitled The West Offaly Way: A Community Development Approach to Tackling Health Inequalities in Rural Areas.
The report was launched on February 8th by the then minister for finance, Brian Cowen. That was just over three months ago. So the report has some little status and some little relevance. It says: "Life is short where its quality is poor. Poverty, social exclusion and discrimination cost lives. Social exclusion also results from racism, discrimination, hostility and unemployment. These processes prevent people from participating in education or training and gaining access to services and citizenship activities. According to the World Health Organisation, they are socially and psychologically damaging, materially costly and harmful to health."
It makes several other points: "Evidence on the effects of early experiences on physical development, school readiness and health in later life has sparked a growing consensus about early child development as a powerful determinant of health in its own right. Also, the other determinants of health affect the physical, social, mental, emotional and spiritual development of children and youth."
It continues: "Health status improves with education level, which in turn is closely tied to socio-economic status."
Also: "In the built environment, factors related to housing, air and water quality, and design of communities and transportation systems, can significantly influence our physical and psychological wellbeing".
Also: "Evidence from a number of countries shows that, even after allowing for other factors, unemployed people and their families suffer a substantially increased risk of premature death."
The report details how west Offaly is a disadvantaged area, partly because of the decline of the peat industry and agriculture. There is a higher percentage of people in the lower social class (16 per cent) than nationally (13 per cent). There is a higher percentage of early school-leavers (24.8 per cent) than nationally (18 per cent). Surprisingly, 11 per cent of all households are headed by a lone parent. There are 61 Traveller families.
If Offaly reflects the national pattern, then more than 1,600 children are living in consistent poverty in the county.
There are inadequate indoor facilities. There is drug misuse, a lack of opportunities to "hang out" with peers, and a high incidence of suicide. It is much the same as in the rest of the State, but a bit worse.
Aside from the impressive West Offaly Way, there is the issue of sexual abuse and violence, which also gets no attention. Although, supposedly, our so-called legislators ("so-called" because they are not legislators: the legislative branch of Government is largely moribund, for the legislative branch is now subsumed into the executive branch) get so exercised about child sex abuse that they now want to strut their concern by removing from the criminal code a crucial defence to a criminal charge: innocent mistake.
Now wouldn't you think politics would be preoccupied with these issues, especially with the shocking number of people dying prematurely? Wouldn't you think that local politics would be dominated in west Offaly by the issues raised in the report and that national politics would be dominated with these issues generally?
Instead, we are obsessed with the significance of Brian Lenihan being moved to the Department of Finance rather than Dermot Ahern. We are obsessed with the significance in terms of jobs and future jobs, not at all in terms of policy implications. With the "demotion" of Mary Hanafin. With who is "in" and who is "out" as junior minister.