Che sia iniziata la recessione è innegabile, forse non catastrofica, ma c'è.
Prendo spunto da questa discussione per postare un interessante e, a mio parere sconcertante, articolo apparso sul "Clare People".
Child Poverty in Clare
Written by Bernie English,
The daily reality for one in nine children is that they may have no heat in their homes, they regularly have to go whole days without a proper meal, they can never afford new clothes and may not even have a decent winter coat to keep them warm.
Their parents have to go into debt just to put food on the table. This is the situation, not in some former Communist block country or some small and troubled African state.
This is Ireland, where the Celtic Tiger's roar has been heard for more than a decade.
But not all of the tiger’s cubs are doing well.
According to statistics gathered from the last census, one in nine children is living in a family which is suffering consistent poverty.
A breakdown by region from the Combat Poverty agency shows that Clare, along with the rest of the mid-west region has the highest percentage of its population living in consistent poverty.
In the mid-west, 10.4 per cent of the population fall into the consistent poverty category, in comparison with 3.3 per cent in Dublin.
Barnardos, the Children’s Charity points out that there are always more children living below the breadline than adults, given that there is usually two or more children in a family.
Barnardo’s Chief Executive Fergus Finlay said, “There are 110,000 children living in consistent poverty in this country. What this means in reality is, children going to bed cold and hungry, children going without having eaten a substantial meal in the previous 24 hours, their parents unable to afford to heat the family home.”
The End Child Poverty Coalition, (ECPC) of which Barnardos is a member, is deeply dissatisfied with the increases given to low-income families in the budget.
“Budget 2008 was the Government's opportunity to show that they are serious about tackling child poverty. For the one in nine children living in consistent poverty in Ireland, this budget fails to deal with the needs of children living in low income families. There was no significant investment to provide targeted measures for children living in poverty. Certainly, an additional €5.69 per week for the poorest children will not bring an end to the scandal of child poverty, and there is still a long way to go to make services affordable and accessible for the poorest families,” a post-budget statement from the coalition said.
To give children in poverty a fighting chance, some of the measures which the coalition had asked for in their pre budget submission included a €13 increase per week for children of families living on social welfare - the budget increase given was €2.
The coalition wanted an increase of €65 per child in the back to school footwear and clothing allowance. The Government gave €20.
In previous years, the threshold for receiving Family Income Supplement for low earners was increased by €25 in each budget. This year, the government gave what the Coalition call a “derisory” €20.
ECPC spokesperson, Camille Loftus said, “Child poverty is very damaging as it has the potential to wreck lives from a very early age. Early intervention, on the other hand, in the form of income supports and access to public services, can assist all children to reach their full potential and it also makes good economic sense. We now want to know what the Government is planning to do for our most vulnerable children and their parents?”
Commenting on what was provided for children in poverty in the budget, St Vincent de Paul's John-Mark McCafferty asked, “What is the Government's strategy to eradicate child poverty, now that 2007 is almost over? This year was a key date in the Government's strategy for the elimination of child poverty. Yet, one in nine children continues to live in a home that is income poor, and goes without basic necessities. This budget has clearly failed to address child poverty.”
Barnardos spokeswoman, Norah Gibbons said, “The situation for children in poverty is a grave one. According to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, 276,000 people experienced consistent poverty last year and while this is the same number as the previous year, consistent poverty among certain groups children and lone parents is going up. The implication from these statistics is that adults may be able to get themselves out of poverty through the labour force but children are dependent. It is not a coincidence that lone parents are also experiencing consistent poverty.”
Barnardos points to the fact that inflation of the price of basic foodstuffs - which low income families spend a disproportionate amount of their income on - has been rampant in the last month.
According to the consumer price index, food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 1.4 per cent due to increases in the price of bread, flour, milk, cheese and other dairy and bakery products. This is the highest monthly increase since April 2001.
The price of staples such as milk, butter and bread has increased by between 7 and 9 per cent
Over the past year, the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose by 17.4 per cent. Education costs rose by 5.2 per cent and food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 4.4 per cent
“This will push even more families and their children over the edge and into the consistent poverty category”, a Barnardos spokeswoman said.
And if the children of low-income two-parent families are going to bed cold and hungry, then children in one-parent families are even more likely to be impoverished.
According to research results compiled by the One Parent Exchange Network (OPEN), one-parent families are 4.5 times more likely to live in consistent poverty than two parent families.
According to information gathered by the Central Statistics Office in the last census, in 2005 an overall level 18.5 per cent of the population were at risk of poverty, compared with 19.4 per cent in 2004. But lone parent households had the highest deprivation levels.
Those living in lone parent households, the CSO states, had the highest deprivation levels in 2005, as in 2004, with almost 60 per cent reporting deprivation in respect of at least one of the eight deprivation indicators. Overall, the CSO bulletin says, “the percentage of the population living in households that experienced some element of enforced deprivation increased”.
“I can't afford to keep the heat on all day so I just put it on for a bit in the morning and by six it's getting too cold to stay up.”
Suzi goes to bed at 6pm every night. Just a bit early for a three and a half year old, you might think, but not unusual. What is unusual is that her mother, Kathy, goes to bed at the same time.
“I can’t afford to keep the heat on all day so I just put it on for a bit in the morning and by six it’s getting too cold to stay up. We just climb into bed and I turn the TV on low while she nods off. I don’t get up again. I just watch programmes until about midnight,” says Kathy.
As a lone parent, Kathy is among the thousands who are surviving - and surviving is the word - on payments from social welfare.
With no other income and no chance of getting even part-time employment until her daughter goes to school, Kathy and Suzi are firmly caught in a poverty trap.
Asked whether she would meet the criteria for being impoverished, she can only laugh.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw a roast dinner, other than a bit of chicken. I don’t think Suzi would know what to do with a cut of meat that wasn’t chicken or mince. Sometimes the day before allowance day, all that’s left from the shopping is bread and potatoes so I make chips. There’s no way I can afford to buy things like steak or even chops - you watch every penny when you’re trying to raise a child on €207 a week.”
It’s been more than a year since Kathy bought herself new clothes “and then it was in Dunnes. About the only thing I buy new for either of us is underwear and shoes for Suzi. Everything else comes from secondhand shops - I’m just glad there are so many of them in Ennis. We’d be going around in rags otherwise.”
She is not surprised to learn that her circumstances fit many of the indicators which the Government uses to measure consistent poverty.
“It’s just the way life is when you’ve a child and no partner to help you. But I’d never take charity - I’d just like if there was some way I could work or go back and get more qualifications so that I can earn better money if I do get work. I’m not really qualified to do anything more than shop work or cleaning right now,” she told The Clare People.
Kathy’s family are not in a position to help her financially, as her father is partially disabled and her mother works part-time to help with the expense of raising Kathy’s three younger sisters.
While the struggle to pay bills and put food on table is a constant in her life, Kathy finds the social exclusion of being poor almost worse.
“All my friends are in their twenties and a lot of them are getting married now. You keep making up excuses about why you can’t go to their weddings. I couldn’t afford a present and a new outfit and the money to buy drinks and maybe get a taxi home.
I have the odd night out, maybe once every couple of months. But a lot of my friends have drifted away - they don’t really understand that you can’t be going out and spending money. I can’t afford a car, so we don’t go very far. Sometimes, you feel very isolated. If I didn’t go to visit my family, I probably wouldn’t speak to another adult all day.”
As Suzi won’t go to school until next year, she isn’t asking for particularly expensive toys.
“We’ll go to my parents for Christmas and I have Santa presents for her to open. They’re all cheap stuff, but she’s too young to know any different. In one way, I’m looking forward to her going to school next year because I might be able to get some part-time work in the mornings. But in another way I’m dreading it. I don’t know what I’ll do when she starts seeing what other kids have and wanting the same stuff.”
Names in this interview have been changed to protect the privacy of the women and child involved.
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THE CLARE PEOPLE
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