The Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Coalition (NIAPN) joined the Equality Coalition and Barnardo’s NI yesterday at Stormont to launch a report on “Progressing an Anti-Poverty Strategy (APS)”.
The event, sponsored by Emma Sheeran MLA, Gerry Carroll MLA, Sinéad McLaughlin MLA, Mike Nesbitt MLA and Kate Nicholl MLA, highlighted the urgent need for an anti-poverty strategy to be enacted.
Last June, a representative from the Department for Communities told us that a draft APS was ready for an incoming minister to bring to the Executive, yet at last week’s Communities Committee meeting the Permanent Secretary Colum Boyle told the committee that it would be “some months” until the draft would be ready. This delay is unacceptable.
Campaigners say the anger and disappointment was palpable at the event yesterday.
Becca Bor, Development Coordinator at NIAPN, said: “This event yesterday is a reminder that there is a legal duty – and obligation – on the Executive to implement an Anti-Poverty Strategy based on objective need. An APS with measurable targets and aims, based on best practice and is evidence based.
“At this juncture, we should not have to reinvent the wheel.
“The report from the expert advisory panel and the co-design group lay out recommendations that were evidence based.
“We can’t wait any longer. Those living in poverty cannot wait any longer.”
The event was addressed by Equality Coalition co-chairs, Patricia McKeown, regional secretary of UNISON, and Daniel Holder, Director of CAJ.
They outlined the long wait for the APS from when it was first promised in the Good Friday Agreement to when it became a legal obligation in the St. Andrews Agreement.
Subsequently, CAJ took a judicial review against the Executive in 2015 and the high court found that the Executive was in breach of the law. Yet, still we wait for an anti-poverty strategy
Trása Canavan, Senior Policy Officer at Barnardo’s NI, and Becca Bor, NIAPN, addressed the event.
Canavan, who chaired the co-design group, spoke about how inhumane our society is for allowing children to grow up in poverty, whilst knowing that there are tested policy interventions that work, such as the Child Payment in Scotland.
Economy Minister, Conor Murphy MLA, addressed the event and spoke to the recommendations from the expert advisory panel and the co-design group that he plans to incorporate within his department.
He plans to bring forward legislation that ensures a Real Living Wage within the department and for procurement; and support “Good Job” creation.
NIAPN and the Equality Coalition say they will continue to engage with MLAs, the Communities Committee, and the Ministers to reinforce the urgency and the legal obligation of the Executive to enact an anti-poverty strategy.
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