THE COMBAT Poverty Agency is due to formally close within weeks and will be officially integrated into the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
The agency, which has been an independent voice in tackling poverty and social exclusion for 23 years, published its last annual report yesterday.
About 20 people who are currently employed by Combat Poverty will merge with the Office for Social Inclusion at the end of this month.
This new unit will be headed by Gerry Mangan, a senior civil servant at the department.
Speaking following the publication of its 2008 annual report, Combat Poverty’s chairman Brian Duncan said that he had mixed feelings on the integration of Combat Poverty into the Office for Social Inclusion.
“On the one hand, it will end our independence and our ability to speak out publicly on issues that cause poverty,” he said.
“But there are also opportunities. There’s more of a critical mass in developing policy and there will be better access to key policymakers, which has been a challenge for the agency in recent years.”
The latest official figures indicate that while the level of poverty fell during the peak of the economic boom, the number of people considered at risk of poverty did not change significantly.
The annual report also points out that children have a higher consistent poverty rate than all of the other groups – and account for nearly 40 per cent of all those in consistent poverty.
In the final edition of its regular newsletter, Action on Poverty Today, former acting director Kevin O’Kelly notes that the work of Combat Poverty was often not appreciated by policymakers in Ireland.
“However, it was well-recognised elsewhere. Its work was noted by governments and organiations working to overcome poverty in other EU member states.”
While its legacy will live on, Mr O’Kelly says it is very doubtful if any alternative structure will replace or replicate its work in the “very difficult years ahead”.
Child poverty: key challenges
The final Combat Poverty Agency report identifies a number of challenges facing the Government when framing anti-poverty policy.
These include:
- Ensuring full economic, social, cultural and political participation of minority groups;
- Tackling educational disadvantage, which disproportionately affects children from poor families;
- Reducing the disproportionate experience of health inequalities of people living in poverty.
