Poverty agency marks 20 years

The test of how much Irish society has progressed in 10 years would be how equal were the choices open to people, anti-poverty campaigner Fr Peter McVerry said yesterday.

Speaking as he unveiled a photographic exhibition marking the 20th anniversary of the Combat Poverty Agency, Fr McVerry said prosperity of the past two decades had reduced consistent poverty from 20 per cent of the population to 7 per cent - "a figure still obscenely high in a country as wealthy as Ireland".

It was "particularly unacceptable" he said, "that 10 per cent of children are still in consistent poverty, which means their families cannot afford the basic necessities of life without getting into debt."

Relative poverty affected almost 20 per cent of the population and though some may prefer to present this as "not real poverty", he said it meant a poverty of choices, "leading to exclusion".

Relative poverty means living on less than 60 per cent of the average wage. "If development then is about expanded choice, I would suggest that we measure development at the end of the next 10 years by the equality of choices available to people now disadvantaged," said Fr McVerry.

He cited Travellers, saying they "do not even have the choice of living to the same age as the rest of society". He asked whether all children would have the same educational opportunities and whether everyone would be able to choose quality healthcare in 2017.

The exhibition features the work of photographer Derek Speirs and runs for a week at the Civic Offices in Dublin before touring the State.

It presents a year-by-year illustration of the changing face of poverty in Ireland since 1986, when Combat Poverty was established.