Ireland performs poorly in EU social justice survey

Ireland performs poorly when it comes to social justice in Europe, with a new survey placing it 18th among 28 EU states

This year’s Social Injustice Index, compiled by Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation, suggests the growing continent’s economic recovery has done little to ease overall levels of – and risk of – poverty.

Indeed, the EU is now home to a rising army of working poor struggling to make ends meet despite full-time jobs. And more Europeans are still out of work than before the crisis began in 2008.

Some 7.2 per cent of those in full-time work in Europe are considered poor, the survey shows, up from 5.1 per cent in 2008

Drawing on 36 indicators divided into six categories, Ireland scored 5.4 points, below the EU average of 5.75 and lodged between Slovakia and Lithuania. Sweden was considered the most socially just country in Europe, Greece the least.

Ireland performed poorly on an inter-generational justice index and poverty prevention. It scored highest in the EU on fighting discrimination, with analysts praising the working of the Equality Authority. However, the report expresses reservations at the number of non-nationals working in jobs beneath their skill level.

Social exclusion

There was glaring social exclusion in schools, the report warns, with Irish education “unduly” dependent on socio-economic background.

And while Ireland has the third highest life expectancy in the EU, trailing Malta and Sweden, this was in spite of, not because of, the health system.

“Rapid health system reforms are needed to address deficiencies in access,” the report says.

Across the EU, the report suggests the economic recovery has done little for the one in four – 118 million – still at risk of poverty, with southern Europe hit hardest.

Some 36 per cent of Greeks are living near the poverty line, something that also applies to 37 per cent of Romanians and 41 per cent of Bulgarians.

This includes 25 million children and youths under 18 who face the threat of a lifetime of poverty and social exclusion.

The report warns that those in work were struggling like never before to pay their bills thanks to the rise in low-wage, temporary and atypical employment.

“A full-time job must not only provide an income, it must also ensure an adequate standard of living,” said Aart De Geus, chairman of the Bertelsmann Foundation. “When more and more people cannot earn a living from the work they do, it undermines the legitimacy of our economic and social order.”