WHAT IS POVERTY AND WHAT ARE ITS CAUSES IN IRELAND? 15 Parties in opposition:
Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and the Social Democrats have never been in government. Although they do not all agree on the causes of poverty, they have all argued that the government parties of the last ten years have not done enough to combat the causes of poverty in Ireland. All three parties argue for government policy to lean more towards using taxpayer money on public spending to support those living in or at risk of poverty. They have also shown support for the living wage.
‘The so-called economic recovery is being built on a race to the bottom when it comes to many workers’ pay and conditions. All talk of “recovery” from this government is utterly meaningless for those workers earning very low wages in the likes of the retail, agriculture and food sectors and languishing in precarious employment on zero-hour contracts. It’s disgraceful that employers are making huge profits again at the expense of workers struggling on poverty wages.’
– Bríd Smith, People Before Profit
RESPONSE JOURNAL
CONSIDER Visit page 59 of your Response Journal to consider these perspectives on CREATE
poverty in Ireland.
Visit page 60 of your Response Journal to create a poster showing a key cause of poverty in Ireland and a way to tackle it.
