Claims by charitable organisations that one-third of Irish people are living in poverty are untrue, according to Dr Sean Barrett, of the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association in the Tullamore Court Hotel on Saturday, he said that it was time Combat Poverty and other agencies moved away from making "outlandish and spurious claims" about the levels of poverty in the State. There were one-third more people at work now than there were in 1987, real wages had increased, and the tax burden had been reduced over this time frame, he told consultants attending the conference.
"The school of poverty studies which insists that a third of the nation lives in poverty, would still make that claim if we all doubled our incomes," he said.
The problem was that the budget has been "hijacked" by people who should not qualify for money, while target groups who were genuinely in need of the money lose out, he said in a lecture entitled "The Flip Side of the Celtic Tiger".
Dr Barrett said the abolition of university fees was "obviously an absurd measure" in terms of tackling deprivation. The measure transfers some £50 million a year to the higher income groups in our society. Dr Barrett said that groups such as U2 and other creative artists should not be given grants or tax incentives by the Government - instead this money should be directed towards those on social welfare to enable them to return to work.
Similarly there should be no grants for tourism and the construction industry. Manufacturing and agricultural grants should also be scaled down.
Because there were "staff wanted" signs in so many shops, pubs and restaurants, State agencies should cease much of their promotional and subsidy-awarding activity.
In addition, the new Dublin conference centre should be stripped of its grant of £25 million. Given that Dublin tourism was already booming and had labour shortages, there was no logic for any grants in the project, he said.
Mr Noel Clear, the president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, who was also invited to speak at the a.g.m., said there were 48,500 people on local authority housing lists and growing numbers of people sleeping on the streets. He said the society visited families who in many instances did not have sufficient money to buy their children the basic necessities in life, even a packet of nappies.
One 90-year-old woman with a heart condition had waited 16 weeks to receive treatment to her feet which were covered with ulcers because she was a public patient, he told consultants at the a.g.m. At the meeting, the IHCA - which represents 85 per cent of all consultants in the State with nearly 1,200 members - presented a document on hospital medical staffing which will form the platform for key negotiations with the Department of Health.
The association said the number of consultant posts should be increased to 2,400, with recognition for greater flexibility in consultants' contracts.
In addition, the association said a significantly greater degree of flexibility should be introduced into the routine hospital working day.
The document also recommended that GP units should be established on a pilot basis on the grounds of, or adjacent to, hospitals with accident and emergency units.
The number of consultants working in casualty departments should be increased to 119.