New social contract needed - SJI

John McGeady, CEO of Social Justice Ireland made a compelling argument for a new social contract as he addressed the autumn gathering of Cavan Public Participation Network (PPN).

The CEO of SJI was joined as guest speaker for the event hosted by the PPN at Ballyconnell’s Market House by the National Ombusdman, Ger Deering.

In a fascinating overview he detailed the range of complaints with which his office dealt, and the impact they could have in taking up the concerns of citizens.

Cathaoirleach Cllr John Paul Feeley had warmly welcomed all in attendance. Cllr Feeley has long been an advocate for rural development, volunteering with the Killinagh Community Council, St. Vincent de Paul, and several other community groups. He emphasised the importance of local participation and volunteerism, recognising the PPN as “the heartbeat of civic engagement in County Cavan.”

The night benefited from a thrilling performance by the Cavan Singers under the direction of Eileen Tackney.

However, it was the comments of Mr McGeady of SJI which may have rang longest in the ears of those in attendance. He provided an overview of the work SJI, focussing on the long-standing problem of “poverty and inequality” facing society.

“We are wealthier than any time in our history and yet, based on the most recent figures from the CSO, there are 630,000 people living below the poverty line in Ireland, of whom 190,000 are children. We also know from CSO data that 31% of the population, before social transfers, would have been below the poverty line. So this speaks to a very, very unequal society and while a lot of work has been done to address that, more needs to be done.”

Mr McGeady notes too that for “more and more” young people, housing is now out of reach.

“We have a level of homelessness today that is obscene. As of the last count there were 16,640 people in emergency homeless accommodation, of whom 5,238 were children.”

These were just two of a list of problems both “long-standing and emerging”, which he claims renders redundant the traditional social contract between the citizens and state. He argued a new social contract had to redress the inequity in today’s society, and required seven basic rights for citizens: sufficient income; meaningful work; appropriate accommodation; relevant education; essential healthcare; real participation in society; and cultural respect.

In the Q&A that followed Mr McGeady was asked if corporation tax is too low and personal tax too high?

Answering he recognised strong foreign direct investment has been “really essential” to Ireland’s economic development.

“While I wouldn’t say we need a higher corporation tax rate per se, but what I would say is that there are a huge number of tax breaks that allow large corporations to pay less corporation tax than the low tax rate we already have in this country.”

He detailed Social Justice Ireland’s policy: “Within the corporate tax rate of 12.5% there should be a minimum effective rate of six per cent, which would mean that a corporation should at the very least have to pay six per cent corporation tax. It may not have to pay the 12.5% which is already the lowest in the world but at least pay six per cent because some of them pay even less than that.”