Minister for Social and Family Affairs Martin Cullen has warned anti-poverty campaigners that the Government will have to prioritise key social issues rather than trying to tackle all of society's problems at once.
He was speaking at a forum on social inclusion where participants examined ways of tackling social exclusion among children, people of working age, older people and communities.
"The Government wants to make the best social provision we can from income support, to education, health, housing and public services. We also want to ensure that through maintaining economic competitiveness, we retain the wealth and the jobs that make good, sustainable social provision possible," Mr Cullen said.
"This reality means that we must get the balance right between social and economic development. It involves choosing priorities, because we cannot do everything at once."
While the Government has signalled that aspects of public spending may need to be reigned in next year, Mr Cullen said the overall aim of its 10-year blueprint to tackle poverty remained firmly in place.
The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (2007-2016) aims to reduce consistent poverty to between 2 per cent and 4 per cent by 2012. Ultimately, it aims to eliminate it by 2016. Consistent poverty includes those who earn less than two-thirds of the average wage and who cannot afford necessities such as proper food, clothing or heat.
The first annual review of the action plan, outlining progress made in tackling social exclusion, was published yesterday.
Gerry Mangan, director of the Office for Social Inclusion, said the strategies for tackling poverty were based on today's economic and social realities and on those anticipated. However, he said that over the next 10 years it was almost inevitable that the nature and pace of implementation would be affected by economic and social developments.
