Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I have tabled a number of amendments on this issue, including amendment No. 37 with Deputies Enright and Shortall and amendments Nos. 38 to 45, inclusive, in my own name. One of the most dishonest aspects of this Bill has been the Minister's introduction on Committee Stage of an amendment to abolish the Combat Poverty Agency. It is ironic that at a time when examining and monitoring poverty are probably more important than ever before in the history of this State, these functions are being transferred to the Office for Social Inclusion. That office will not fulfil the objectives set out for the Combat Poverty Agency because its work is completely at the whim of the Minister.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is at present receiving a greater number of calls for help than at any point in its history. As the economic crisis deepens and greater numbers of people become impoverished, we need an organisation with the skills and specific reporting and monitoring functions of the Combat Poverty Agency. It is downright sinister, therefore, that the Minister is silencing this voice. A board member of the agency has described the decision as the systematic tearing apart of the agency.

The reason for the decision is clearly because the Government does not want its mismanagement of the economy or the true levels of poverty and discrimination to be revealed to the public. The wastage of the public finances that has taken place over a considerable period of time could easily have eradicated poverty if the money had been used to implement the reports and recommendations of the Combat Poverty Agency. We would have been left with a different society and the economy would have been in a much stronger position to weather this downturn. It is an ominous sign that the Government is going to bury its head in the sand and will try to conceal from the public the true depth of the catastrophe over which it is presiding. Its response will be to silence the voice and allow poverty to increase. That is grossly unacceptable.

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