Government cutbacks must not affect services for the most vulnerable or impact upon social welfare payments according to John-Mark McCafferty, Head of Social Justice and Policy at the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, one or Ireland’s largest charities.
The government’s recent announcement that there will be a €440 million cutback in government spending for 2008 and a further €1 billion cutback in 2009 means that many people working within the voluntary and community sector are worried about the future. “Our concern is that the most vulnerable are at risk of losing out”, says McCafferty “at this stage it is just a case of waiting and seeing and monitoring the situation.”
According to McCafferty, Saint Vincent de Paul has seen an increase in calls asking for assistance in the Dublin region over the last few months, “there is a lot of need out there, there are a lot of people who are either in debt or they are experiencing a lot of problems with arrears or trying to balance the household books with regard to food, energy costs and often rent.” Increases in fuel prices have affected the poorest in Irish society more than the well off because they spend a greater proportion of their income on basic necessities such as food and heating. “The essentials, shelter, food, heat, the things that many of us take for granted, they are the things that are proving very costly for a number of people right now and they are the things we are assisting people with,” says McCafferty.
McCafferty argues that it is important that social welfare rates reflect this increased cost of living, “welfare rates are important and so are the social welfare supports for people who are moving from welfare to work, it is very important that they are not reduced or just maintained, but enhanced to reflect the cost of living”. The government should also follow through on commitments on the provision of social housing, support early childhood care and fund local authorities to enforce minimum quality standards in the private sector.
Many charities like Saint Vincent de Paul run projects that are funded by a variety of government agencies and some of these projects may be forced to find alternative funding or face cutbacks in their service provision. Already the HSE has told the SVP that there will be no new funding for the development of new homeless services and McCafferty suggests that homeless services might be one area that is seen as an “easy target” for cutbacks.
McCafferty also questions the sustainability of public private partnerships after the withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara from two out of Dublin City Council’s five main inner-city regeneration projects. “We’re concerned that the public private partnerships don’t seem to be delivering in the way that was envisaged. They don’t necessarily seem to be sustainable right now given the fact the developers can seem to pull out at any point in the cycle.” The multi-million Euro redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street, both in the north inner city, and St Michael's Estate in Inchicore are currently on hold following McNamarra’s withdrawal from the process.
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul provide a wide variety of services including advice and information services, practical assistance and support to families in need, resource centres for communities and families, emergency accommodation, homeless services, pre-school crèches for disadvantaged families and housing.
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul's website
See our listings of community and voluntary organisations
0 comments:
Post a Comment