The level of basic deprivation in Irish society is falling, but the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. That is the clear message of a new study on poverty published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) this week. It is an analysis which shows just how much remains to be done to tackle poverty and that is an issue which has implications for a whole range of policy areas.
The conclusions drawn by the ESRI are not surprising. The level of so-called consistent poverty has fallen from 15 per cent of the population in 1994 to 8 per cent in 1998. Consistent poverty is defined as people living on less than 60 per cent of the average income and deprived of basic necessities such as heating, electricity and proper meals.
Despite this decline, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. The economic boom has meant that the rich get richer, but has yielded a proportionately smaller benefit to the less well-off. This explains the conclusion reached in last week's UN Human Development Report, which said that the Republic had the second highest concentration of poverty in the industrialised world, behind only the US.
How should this issue be tackled? One appropriate response from the Government would be a Budget which strongly favours the less well-off. The cumulative impact of the Coalition's Budgets to date has strongly favoured the better off. The 2002 Budget should reverse this trend, offering more generous social welfare rises and targeting tax relief firmly at the lower paid.
Looking at the longer term, the Government is consulting with relevant representative groups and agencies in drawing up a revised National Poverty Strategy, due for publication in November.
Many of the more complex issues raised were discussed at a conference earlier this week, which highlighted key areas of poverty suffered by women, older people and many children. Complex policy questions are involved, many of which should be teased out in drawing up the new strategy
This analysis is important, but it is also a question of priorities. The Government has shown little willingness to tackle consistently the core issues surrounding inequality, which include, inter alia , the poor state of the health service, the inadequacy of the support services to many disadvantaged groups and the many problems which create an inequality of opportunity in our society. Tackling these problems requires not only money, but also reform of policies and structures. It also requires political leadership in a society increasingly obsessed with material gain.
If these issues are not tackled, then the gap between rich and poor will widen further, with profound implications for the future of our society. So far the Government has presided over a rapidly-growing economy, but has a poor record in harnessing the fruits of this prosperity to tackle inequality.