The following extract from the CORI Justice ‘Policy Briefing’ published in advance of the Government’s second Budget for 2009 has been published in the May/June 2009 edition of ‘Spirituality’.
There are deeper values issues to be considered as Ireland reviews the series of crises it is currently facing. Much of these crises are rooted in a philosophy of individualism that does not value community or connectedness and sees the individual as the primary unit of social reality.
This philosophical approach sees the person principally in economic terms and considers the market to be the key place for advancement and development.
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The development of the EU has been strongly portrayed as a peace process. It has been effective in that regard and has contributed to the process of bringing democratic stabilisation to some high-risk regions of Europe.
Commitment to supporting the welfare state has been a consistent part of EU policy and strong rhetorical support continues. There is much affirmation in the EU of the 'European Social Model'. However the European Social Model is now coming under pressure on a number of fronts.
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The Irish Government has published the second Finance Bill for 2009 on May 7th, 2009. This gives effect to the provisions contained in its second Budget for the year published on April 7th, 2009. The full text of the Bill here.
An explanatory note together with other relevant information can be accessed at the Department of Finance’s website.
The CORI Justice Analysis and Critique of Budget 2009 can be accessed here in both pdf and html formats.
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Budget lacks vision as banks escape and children are targeted
This Budget lacks a guiding vision. This in turn gives rise to some very serious problems. The Budget allows many of those who created the present series of crises, particularly the banks, to escape. At the same time the vulnerable, particularly children, are targeted to pay for the misbehaviour and fraud of others.
Government made a sensible decision to change its borrowing parameters. However, it showed a profound lack of understanding of the social crisis that Ireland is currently facing.
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Key Pre-Budget documents have been published by the Department of Finance. These are:
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Thegood news is that poverty fell by 100,000 over the most recent three-year period for which statistics are available. The bad news is that the current economic crisis and its attendant rising unemployment do not augur well for poverty in Ireland.
Almost a third of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person WITH a job (31.3% in 2007, up from 29.5% in 2006). These are the ‘working poor’. Government has failed to take the necessary initiatives to tackle this working poor issue.
To read full text of Download Pdf of Briefing on Poverty
To read full text of Policy Briefing in html… |
In making its decisions on next week's Budget Government CORI Justice has urged Government to:
- prioritise initiatives that play a key role in ensuring that broader societal goals are met, and
- resource initiatives that are good for the vulnerable and good for the economy.
It is crucial that Government uses the limited resources that are available to protect the vulnerable and to secure the foundations of an effective recovery according to CORI Justice.
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The number of chronically hungry people has exceeded the one billion mark for the first time in human history as the ongoing economic crisis is taking a huge toll on poor countries. One of the main consequences of the current crisis is that food prices have risen, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
From the early 1990s until 2007 there were about 850 million people chronically hungry in the world. This number was relatively constant because of the work being done to fight poverty in the world's poorest countries and because China's economy was growing and having a positive impact on its population. Food prices started to rise in 2007 and since then there has been a dramatic rise to a total of 960 million in 2008 and now beyond one billion. In 2008 more than 30 countries had food riots.
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The Briefing Analyses the present situation, Presents a vision of the future that should guide policy decisions, and Makes a series of recommendations concerning the choices Government should take in its forthcoming Budget.
Read the Policy Briefing in pdf format
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The European Commission's Communication "Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen", which was published on 28 January, has been criticised by the international Catholic organisations Caritas and CIDSE as not being strong enough.
In a joint analysis and critique of the Commission’s communication they conclude the communication is “not strong enough to move international negotiations forward towards an effective agreement in Copenhagen”. The two organisations urge EU leaders to show greater ambition and leadership by sending a clear message to the world that the EU is ready to take its responsibilities “as a major historical polluter, a previous climate champion and a global leader in development cooperation.”
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In its latest report published on March 10, 2009 the National Economic & Social Council (NESC) claims that Ireland faces not one but five closely-related crises at this time: a banking crisis; a fiscal crisis; an economic crisis of competitiveness and job losses; a social crisis of unemployment, income loss and indebtedness; and a reputational crisis. In this report, entitled: Ireland’s Five-Part Crisis: An Integrated National Response NESC has called for an integrated national response to these current crises and argues that such a response must be widely understood, command support and, most importantly, engage the ability and energy of the Irish people.
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The European Commission is calling on EU leaders to further step up coordinated European action to fight the economic crisis. In its communication to the European Council summit on 19-20 March, the Commission sets out a comprehensive reform of the financial system. It claims that a clear and united commitment to this programme, which it sees as ambitious, can pave the way for the EU to give a global lead at the G20 summit in London on 2 April.
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Applications are now being considered for places on the MA for Social Justice and Public Policy which will have a new intake in the autumn for the 2009/11 course. This two-year programme is taught at All Hallows College, a college of Dublin City University. The degree is validated and accredited by DCU. This programme, which commenced in 2005, developed from an internship programme run by CORI Justice from 1993 to 2004.
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To say that we live in extraordinary times would be an understatement. A period of economic boom has crashed. It is now clear that much of the economic growth of the past decade and more was powered, in part at least, by a deeply dishonest global financial system. For quite some time this system had been used by a relatively small number of people to become very rich. Much of what happened can only be described as fraud.
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The latest edition of the CORI Justice newsletter CONTACT addresses a range of issues including: the consequences of giving the market primacy over the common good; Our own contribution to the present series of crises; Social Partnership - alternative options; CORI Justice's meeting with an Oireachtas Committee; the working poor issue; the future of the welfare state; World Day of Social Justice; International Women's Day; and the Lipstick Index!
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