THE CUT in the minimum wage was criticised yesterday in a document approved by Ireland’s Catholic bishops.
From
Crisis to Hope: Working to Achieve the Common Good, was prepared by the
Catholic Bishops’ Council for Justice and Peace (CJP) and launched at
the Capuchin day centre in Dublin.
Described as “not a political
manifesto” it was, however, launched in anticipation of the general
election on Friday and forthcoming elections in Northern Ireland.
One of
the document’s authors, Fr Eoin Cassidy, said in both elections voters
“have a responsibility to vote for people who support the common good”
which he described as the purpose of politics.
It was difficult to
countenance the cut in the minimum wage in a situation where large
six-figure salaries continue to be awarded to senior executives of
semi-State companies, he said.
The minimum wage cut amounted to
almost 12 per cent of annual income for people concerned and mainly
affected migrants who are not represented by unions and have no power.
He was critical of cuts in disability and carers’ allowances and in the
blind pension. In the context of social solidarity, he said: “I believe
the Government has got it wrong.”
The document says “the main
burden of responsibility for our current (financial) predicament lies
with those who have in the recent past, and in some cases still do,
exercise positions of leadership in our society.”
All, however, “made
some contribution to the culture which has generated this crisis”.
The
document criticises cuts in the minimum wage and stresses that “there
must be an end to the bonus culture which is so destructive of civic
virtue” and which is “one of the principal causes of the current malaise
in Irish society.”
It undermined a belief in the value and ideals
of public/civil service while creating unacceptably large income gaps
between different sectors of society.
But, where social solidarity
is concerned, the document concludes it was by no means certain Irish
people would choose it over a low tax policy.
It also calls for
the strengthening of the family based on marriage between a man and a
woman and describes abortion as a denial of the “inalienable right to
life”.
Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert and Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Ray Field attended a function to announce the document Monday.
Bishop
Field said the document aimed to “ensure that the human cost of the
current crisis will be given due recognition, and not be drowned in a
sea of figures and statistics”.
“Do we want to be seen as a nation that
values economic efficiency above the wellbeing of its citizens, or do we
want to be a nation that values, cares for and protects people,
families and communities?” he asked.
Bishop Kirby said people had
neglected the principles of solidarity and placed private sectional
interests ahead of the good of the community as a whole. “Greed became
dominant, trust was betrayed and the result was the recession in which
we now are.”
At national level “the failure of so many
institutions, including sadly the Church itself, led to a betrayal of
trust by ignoring or trivialising the importance of ethics in business.
Those in authority failed to act in the interest of the common good and
in some cases showed a flagrant disregard to anything associated with
it,” he said.
He was critical of the fact that over the past few
years the Overseas Aid budget of the Irish government has been cut on
three occasions.
It is now €284 million less than what it was in 2008.