Ms Michelle Murphy:

I am the research and policy analyst of Social Justice Ireland and we are a member of the Better Europe Alliance. I am joined by Alice-Mary Higgins from National Women's Council of Ireland and Michael Ewing from the Environmental Pillar. I will give the introductory presentation and I and my colleagues will be happy to elaborate on any points in the question and answer session.

The alliance welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs on the 2014 country specific recommendations, CSRs, for Ireland. We believe this committee is in a unique position to monitor both the quality and the progress of the implementation of the CSRs in Ireland at a ministerial an departmental level.

In future, however, the committee could also have a valuable role in ensuring that future CSRs are more comprehensive in reflecting Ireland's delivery of the Europe 2020 strategy, as this is the first year in which Ireland actually has received country-specific recommendations. In this presentation, the alliance will focus on four specific CSRs that are of particular relevance to its members. These are the recommendations on macroeconomic goals, health, employment and unemployment and on low-work-intensity households. Fiscal and economic considerations have dominated the first CSRs that Ireland received from the European Commission in June. These were evident in the macroeconomic objectives outlined in the first recommendation. However, while the third and fourth recommendations have the potential to make improved social and environmental outcomes, it is essential that any fiscal measure flowing from the first recommendation does not impede investment in these areas and takes into account the social and environmental impact and balance of the European semester process and the Europe 2020 strategy itself.

The first recommendation outlines approaches to the achievement of commitments and annual targets in respect of budget deficits and debt outlined in the fiscal treaty and the Irish stability programme. It calls on the Government to enhance the credibility of the fiscal adjustment strategy. The alliance believes strongly that this must include enhancing the social, environmental and public credibility of that strategy through the reduction of poverty and social exclusion and through meeting environmental targets. The alliance is alarmed by the proposal to make the Government expenditure ceilings more binding by limiting the scope for discretionary changes, as this will inhibit any investment in respect of child care or employment, as well as the balance of the Europe 2020 strategy itself with regard to the social, economic and environmental policy positions. While we support the principle of greater public transparency, limiting investment will prevent Ireland from addressing core issues such as poverty and inequality, unemployment, long-term care, social housing, pensions and environmental degradation. We agree with the proposal to broaden the tax base, which is necessary to fund social and public services and in particular, we support the need for taxation measures to avoid negative environmental harm. The alliance also calls for all expenditure and taxation measures to be submitted to a process of poverty, inequality, gender and environmental impact assessments, on which my colleagues are happy to elaborate further during the question and answer session.

The focus of the second recommendation on health is on cost-effectiveness. While the alliance agrees with proposals to address the costs of medicine and to ensure access to more generic medicines, it is essential that the focus on cost-effectiveness and savings in the area of health does not result in making health services less accessible or effective. The objective of improving health outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, must be central to health sector reform. As for the third recommendation on employment and unemployment, we agree with the proposal to increase the level of support provided by Intreo, as well as on the need for a seamless referral system between Intreo and the education and training boards. However, without adequate and sufficient investment, these systems will not function correctly and neither will they meet the needs of those who are long-term unemployed and the imposition of restrictive expenditure ceilings would limit such investment. Second, a strong emphasis on the live register and those in receipt of jobseeker payments actually results in the exclusion of many groups and individuals who are disproportionately represented in low-work-intensity households, in particular those in receipt of the one-parent family payment and the disability allowance.

On the fourth recommendation on low-work-intensity households, we support the principle that any withdrawal of benefits and supplementary payments, as people in receipt of social welfare payments return to paid employment, must be managed through a tapered approach. However, the alliance believes that firm measures are needed to address the issue of insecure employment and low-paid work. This recommendation does not deal with the structural inequalities that act as a barrier to full social and economic participation for many people. We strongly support the recommendation to promote accessible and affordable child care of quality but to achieve this goal it is necessary to have active public investment to provide the quality child care places needed across all parts of Ireland. As I noted previously, the imposition of expenditure ceilings would limit investment in this area.

The alliance would like to comment on some items that are missing from the country-specific recommendations. Overall, the non-integration of sustainability into the European semester process is of concern to the alliance. We also are concerned that particular areas were not included in the CSRs. These include climate change and resource efficiency, poverty reduction and the reduction of social exclusion, pensions, improved access to quality housing, gender mainstreaming, health and long-term care. It is very important that the European semester process is genuinely focused on delivering a balanced and coherent approach between economic, social and environmental policies. The alliance hopes that future recommendations might support long-term strategic thinking and a more balanced approach in respect of social, economic and environmental policies. We also hope that the implementation of the CSRs in 2014 would be managed in a positive, inclusive and constructive manner, reflecting our concerns and insights.

Finally, we wish to reiterate the unique position of this committee in monitoring the implementation and delivery of CSRs in Ireland, as well as the valuable role it can play in ensuring that future CSRs are more comprehensive in reflecting Ireland's delivery of the Europe 2020 strategy.