Cori calls for focus on building 'just society'

The Government should focus on building a just society when formulating social policy, religious congregations have urged.

Speaking at the Cori (Conference of Religious of Ireland) annual Social Policy Conference in Dublin today, Cori justice directors Fr Sean Healy and Sr Brigid Reynolds called for a new approach to measuring progress.

Fr Healy said: "The present approach to measuring progress lacks balance in that it focuses mostly on economic growth and fails to give sufficient priority to human dignity, human development, human rights and the environment."

Fr Healy and Sr Reynolds said if public policy were to focus on building a just society, a much greater focus would be required on issues such as: work, to ensure that all work is respected and not just paid employment; income, so that everyone has sufficient income to live life with dignity; and sustainability, to ensure that development is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.

Fr Healy and Sr Reynolds described as "a step in the right direction," the approach to developing social policy contained in the new national agreement Towards 2016.

Today's conference marks the 25th anniversary of Cori, and papers are being presented on topics such as the family, migration, power, the basic paradigm underpinning public policy and the use of evidence in policy development.

Cori is one of the Social Partners that negotiated and signed the last four national agreements. It represents over 135 religious congregations with 12,000 members in 1,400 communities throughout the country.