Link to full report: http://tinyurl.com/clareppn
Link to the 2 page handout: https://clareppn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/flyer.pdf
Clare Immigrant Support Centre is delighted to be part of the the steering group for this research project alongside Clare PPN, Women's Collective Ireland - Clare, Clare Leader Forum, Clare Traveller Community Development Project, West Clare and Shannon Family Resource Centres s delighted to be part of the steering committee of the research project Towards an Anti-Poverty Strategy for Clare.
ON 20 September 2022 following nine months of research the launch took place of this landmark report ‘Towards an Anti-Poverty Strategy for Clare’, which examined the causes of and policy responses to poverty in the county. This participatory research project saw that many people contributed to this important research by taking part in our focus groups, survey and webinars.
About this anti-poverty strategy research:
Clare PPN’s social inclusion college worked with groups comprising and representing those living at the sharp end of poverty in Co Clare to seek funding from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC)’s Human Rights and Equality Grants Fund. This funding was used to create an Anti Poverty Strategy Project in Clare. The project engaged the services of Dr Conor McCabe as lead researcher for what is the first county-level project of its kind in Ireland. Workshops and focus groups using peer researchers were conducted to ensure the project’s research questions were guided by the lived experience of those involved. The project steering group hopes to bring their findings to national and local policy makers in an effort to ensure that policy making in the future is poverty-proofed and that proposed economic developments are analysed for their ability to deliver sustainable livelihoods for people in the county.
The research findings in this report are not available anywhere else and will be invaluable to public representatives and policymakers in Clare and elsewhere in rural Ireland. This is the first report to make use of the most recent CSO figures from the 2022 Census.
National Launch:
Dr McCabe’s final report from this project was formally launched by IHREC Chief Commissioner Sinead Gibney on 20th September at Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin. All Clare TDs, Senators and County Councillors are invited to attend. Also invited were the spokespeople on social inclusion, rural and community development, health, disability, equality and transport from all political parties. Dr Conor McCabe, the project’s lead researcher, was in attendance to discuss the findings, as were disability and Traveller activists from Clare.
As there was a severe lack of information or prior research on services and resources available to marginalised people in Clare, the group had an extensive series of Parliamentary Questions (PQs) submitted by TDs in Clare to Government ministers. The findings of this research are based in part on the responses to those PQs. Clare County Councillors also made an important contribution to this research, including by participating in focus groups with Dr McCabe.
Why is this project being launched in Dublin?
The findings, while focussed on Co Clare, demonstrate how the socio-economic rights of marginalised groups throughout rural Ireland are impacted negatively by national policies. Over the course of this project it became very clear that traditional approaches by anti-poverty organisations in Clare to address poverty can’t compensate for the lack of effective services and infrastructure in the county.
It also became clear that the regional focus of current national planning means that specific local situations and concerns are finding no responses in policy. Much of the information in this report had to be obtained through primary research and Parliamentary Questions. Comprehensive information on poverty in Clare was not available elsewhere to our organisations. You cannot address what you cannot measure.
In the words of one of the organisations, “We don’t want to be running food banks, we want solutions and a fair chance for people in our county.” Our organisations can advocate for social welfare increases but, while necessary, this will not compensate for a lack of equal access to health services, transport, housing, childcare or sustainable employment. Based on people’s lived experience in Co Clare, it became apparent that national policy as it relates to Clare is likely to exacerbate rural poverty.
Although we are a small group with a very small project budget, our message is important and we want to take it to the centre of power. As one person involved in the project commented:
‘Clare is not Alaska – we’re an hour from two major cities and three hours from the capital, with a growing population. There is no reason services and infrastructure can’t or shouldn’t be provided here.’
