A new study by Social Justice Ireland (SJI) shows that the level of poverty in Ireland has increased by almost 60,000 while figures for unemployment are not falling.
The 54-page study, entitled Ireland and the Europe 2020 Strategy: Unemployment, Education and Poverty, reviews the social inclusion aspects of Ireland's National Reform Programme and the Europe 2020 Strategy, and how these have been implemented to date.
It finds that many of Ireland's major indicators on poverty and social inclusion are moving in the wrong direction.
Published on Monday, the study welcomes recent developments in relation to Government policy on jobs, but argues that these are not likely to have a major impact because of their lack of scale.
The study also expresses concern at the failure of policy-makers to understand that more is required to protect the vulnerable than promises that jobs will be available when the economy recovers.
According to Fr Seán Healy, Director of Social Justice Ireland, “There can be no doubt that both the Irish Government and the EU are failing Ireland’s poorest and most vulnerable. It is essential that both institutions prioritise solidarity and ensure the Europe 2020 Strategy is genuinely inclusive.”
He called for greater focus to be placed on job creation and on preparing people to be in a position to avail of an economic upturn as soon as it begins to create jobs.
However, Fr Healy added that it was also important to recognise that Ireland is facing high levels of long-term unemployment for many years to come.
“It appears highly unlikely that sufficient market-based jobs will emerge in the short to medium term to provide the necessary positions that would substantially reduce unemployment in Ireland. Consequently, an intervention of scale is required that would dramatically reduce the numbers long-term unemployed,” the Director of SJI warned.
SJI believes that this review of Ireland's contribution to the Europe 2020 Strategy raises serious questions concerning a number of decisions made by the Government in their recent budget, many of which, SJI warns, will impact negatively upon the most vulnerable in Irish society, increasing the level of exclusion already experienced by those households.
The report concludes that Government should set targets aimed at reducing poverty among vulnerable groups such as children, lone parents, jobless households and those in social rented housing.
Other recommendations in the study include a recommendation that the Government introduce two new sub-targets under their current employment target in order to address in-work poverty and long-term unemployment.
The SJI study proposes targets aimed at reducing in-work poverty and reducing long-term unemployment to 1.3% of the labour force.
Social Justice Ireland also outlines a jobs proposal that it believes could have a real impact on reducing the number of people experiencing long-term unemployment.
On education, the review proposes that the Government should reduce the proportion of the population aged 16-64 with restricted literacy to 5 per cent by 2016; and to 3 per cent by 2020.
This would still leave approximately 150,000 adults without basic literacy levels in 2016.
On poverty and social exclusion, the study recommends that the Government should carry out in-depth social impact assessments prior to implementing policies, in order to ensure that the position of people experiencing poverty and social exclusion is not worsened by the austerity measures being pursued.
It also recommends that Government should set targets aimed at reducing poverty among particular vulnerable groups such as children, lone parents, jobless households and those in social rented housing.