An Irish Plan
When Ireland decided in the mid-1990s to tackle its grinding poverty problem, the country took decisive action to ensure that it got results. It enacted a national plan with specific goals, and timelines to meet them, and a comprehensive strategy to get there.
Today, 10 years after the plan was launched, Ireland has slashed its poverty rate from 15 per cent to just 6.8 cent.
That decisive action, which was described in an in-depth article last week in the Star headlined Irish Miracle, is sadly lacking in Canada. Here, the poverty rate has been stuck at 16 per cent for decades. More than 5 million Canadians, one in every six, live on poverty incomes, including 1.2 million children.
Such levels of poverty in Canada are occurring despite social assistance spending by both Ottawa and Queen's Park that is generous beyond even Ireland's new standards.
There are many lessons for Canada in the Irish experience, despite the fact Ireland has a population of less than that of the Greater Toronto Area.
It begins with a game plan.
Read the rest here.
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