Social justice, economic policy, and Ireland.

1. Social Justice, Povertyand Ireland
Dr.ConorMcCabe
UCDSchoolofSocialJustice
31July2014

2. 1.Poverty
2.Economic Class Relations
3.Bank Crash
4.Irish Society
5.Gender and Austerity

3. “People are living in poverty if their income
and resources (material, cultural and social)
are so inadequate as to preclude them from
having a standard of living that is regarded
as acceptable by Irish society generally.
As a result of inadequate income and
resources people may be excluded and
marginalised from participating in activities
that are considered the norm for other
people in society.”
(2007) National Action Plan for Social Inclusion
2007-2016

4. POVERTY LINE – 60% of median disposable
income
2011 – median disposable income : €348.05
per week ($466 per week)
60% - €208.80 per week ($278 per week)

7. Food poverty is defined as
suffering from one of the
following deprivation
experiences:
• Missed a meal in the last two
weeks due to a lack of money
• Cannot afford a meal with
meat or vegetarian equivalent
every second day
• Cannot afford a roast or
vegetarian equivalent once a
week

18. Over the last quarter of a
century something
fundamental seems to
have changed in the way
in which capitalism works.
The tendency since 1970
has been towards greater
geographical mobility of
capital.

19. Rather than being a
modest helper to the
capital accumulation
process, [finance]
gradually turned into a
driving force.
Speculative finance
became a kind of
secondary engine for
growth given the
weakness in the primary
engine, productive

38. “Eurostat, the EU
Commission’s data
agency has calculated
the cost of the
banking crisis in each
EU country. The
following focuses on
the cost to general
government budgets.
Ireland has really
taken one for Team
EU.”
A Really Really Special Case
Requires a Really Really
Special Solution
Michael Taft, 15 Jan 2013

40. “As understood by the Financial Regulator, ‘principles-based’
regulation relied very heavily on making sure that appropriate
governance structures and systems were in place in banks and
building societies.
Honohan Report on the Irish banking crisis, May 2010, p.44.

41. “As understood by the Financial Regulator, ‘principles-based’
regulation relied very heavily on making sure that appropriate
governance structures and systems were in place in banks and
building societies.
To this extent, the underlying philosophy was oriented towards
trusting a properly governed firm; it was potentially only a short
step from that trust to the emergence of a somewhat diffident
attitude on the part of the regulators so far as challenging the
decisions of firms was concerned.
Honohan Report on the Irish banking crisis, May 2010, p.44.

42. “As understood by the Financial Regulator, ‘principles-based’
regulation relied very heavily on making sure that appropriate
governance structures and systems were in place in banks and
building societies.
To this extent, the underlying philosophy was oriented towards
trusting a properly governed firm; it was potentially only a short
step from that trust to the emergence of a somewhat diffident
attitude on the part of the regulators so far as challenging the
decisions of firms was concerned.
[Also], legislation set as a statutory objective of the [central
bank and financial regulator] the promotion of the financial
services industry in Ireland, the situation was ripe for the
emergence of a rather accommodating stance vis-à-vis credit
institutions.”
Honohan Report on the Irish banking crisis, May 2010, p.44.

46. Closing down of Dissent - Attacks on Equality in Ireland
Equality Bodies – closed down or with reduced Budgets
 Combat Poverty Agency –closed 2008 incorporated into the Department of Social Protection
 Equality Authority – 2009 43% cut and now being merged with the Human Rights Commission
 Women’s Health Council – closed 2009
 Crisis Pregnancy Agency – closed and merged with the Health Service Executive
 Irish Human Rights Commission -Budget cuts since 2009 and merged with Equality Authority
 Equality for Women Measure - co-funded by EU Operational Programme ---budget partly transferred out of
this area and now under Dept. For Enterprise, Trade and Employment
 National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) _Closed 2009
 Gender Equality desk at the Department (Ministry) of Justice, Equality and Law Reform – Desk Closed 2009
 Gender Equality Unit – Department of Education – Closed early 2000s
 Higher Education Equality Unit – UCC -Closed and merged into Higher Education Authority (early 2000s)
 National Women’s Council of Ireland -158 member organisations- budget cuts of 15% in 2008-11 and 38% in
2012
 Traveller Education cutbacks 2011 and 2012 – all 42 Visiting teaches for Travellers removed*
 Rape Crisis Network Ireland – core Health Authority Funding removed 2011
 SAFE Ireland network of Women’s’ Refuges - core Health Authority Funding removed 2011
 People With Disabilities in Ireland's (PWDI) - funding removed 2012
 National Carers’ Strategy – abandoned 2009
Kathleen Lynch, Equality Studies UCD
School of Social Justice 46

48. Gender and Caring
Notes on Lynch and Lyons, ‘The Gendered Order of Caring’ in
Ursula Barry (ed) Where Are We Now? New Feminist Perspectives
on Women in Contemporary Ireland (Dublin: Tasc, 2008)

49. There are deep gender inequalities in the doing of care and love
work that operate to the advantage of men.
It is women’s unwaged labour and related domestic labour that
frees men up to exercise control in the public sphere of politics,
the economy and culture.
… there is a moral imperative on women to do care work that
does not apply equally to men ; a highly gendered moral code
impels women to do the greater part of primary caring, with most
believing they have no choice in the matter.

50. The Irish government collects data
on unpaid caring within households
in
1. the Census
2. the Quarterly Household
Survey (QNHS).
Within the Census, care is defined
as being given by ‘persons aged
15yrs and over who provide regular
unpaid help for a friend or family
member with a long-term illness,
health problem or disability
(including problems due to age).
P.167-8

51. The way care is defined in the Census excludes what constitutes a
major category of care work, that of the ordinary, everyday care
of children (unless the child has a recognised disability). Data on
the care of children is compiled in the QNHS, however, and is
also available through the European Community Household Panel
(ECPH) survey. The focus in all three is on the hours of work
involved in caring so we do not know the nature and scope of the
caring involved. P.168

52. According to the [2006]
Census there are less than
150,000 people, 5 per cent
of the adult population in
unpaid care work (mostly
with adults) of whom 61
per cent are women and 39
per cent are men.
However, when we
measure all types of caring
activity, as has been done in
the European Community
household Panel (ECPH)
we see that there are 1
million people who do
caring who are not named
in the census.

53. Even though it is no doubt
unintentional, the failure to
collect data on hours spent
on child care work in the
Census, means that child
care, which is the major
form of care work in Irish
society, is no counted in
terms of work hours.
… women are almost five
times as likely to work long
care hours than is the case
for men.
Women spend much more
time at care work than men,
even when they are
employed.