SOCIAL priorities must be central to any new national agreement, the Justice Commission of the Conference of Religious in Ireland said.
Father Sean Healy SMA said the Government had an almost total preoccupation with economic growth". This has led it to tolerate "the persistence of poverty, increasing long term unemployment and ever widening divisions in Irish society". New indicators of progress were urgently required.
While questions on inflation, public sector borrowing and the balance of payments were relevant, they had been discussed more in relation to their impact on financial markets and business confidence than in relation to unemployment or social exclusion. But Father Healy said the National Economic and Social Forum and the National Economic and Social Council had identified social exclusion as a core element that must be tackled in any new national programme.
"This growing recognition provides a basis for hope. If this recognition is to lead to policy, however, it must be underpinned by a radical change in society's understanding of progress.
