A new report by the Community Platform, a network of 30 leading Irish national organisations working against poverty and inequality, highlights the Government’s failure to protect the most vulnerable in society. It warns that the dual attack of unemployment and relentless cuts at national and local level has pushed individuals, families and communities into poverty.
‘Now you see us – The human stories behind poverty in Ireland’ is a report by the Community Platform, of which EAPN Ireland is a member. It features a series of interviews with families, single people, community workers and marginalised groups on how the recession and resulting government policies have affected their lives. The publication aims to reveal the human stories of those hardest hit by austerity policies and the devastation suffered by people on low income and social welfare throughout the recession.
The report documents parents going hungry to feed their children, people unable to heat their homes and a young generation at serious risk of being lost to unemployment, drugs and crime. Robin Hanan, speaking for the Community Platform said “As we move out of the recession we must also move away from austerity policies. The Government now has no excuse not to carry out poverty and equality impact assessments as a central part of all policy making. Too often the Government focuses on the bottom line and ignores the impact of persistent cuts on real people and communities”.
Community Platform spokesperson Edel McGinley concluded “People on social welfare have been vilified and stereotyped as workshy and idle. This is simply not the case: our report shows that people do want to work, but austerity policies and lack of opportunity continue to trap them in unemployment and low-paid part-time work. It’s time for our politicians to stand up for struggling families and communities”.
You can read the full report here.