1 / 9

Social Work Action Network Ireland: 1st Annual Conference, Dublin

November 1 st , 2013. Social Work Action Network Ireland: 1st Annual Conference, Dublin. Alastair Christie. University College Cork. From National to Local …in 10 minutes!. Austerity – National context.

rocio
Download Presentation

Social Work Action Network Ireland: 1st Annual Conference, Dublin

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. November 1st, 2013 Social Work Action Network Ireland: 1st Annual Conference, Dublin Alastair Christie. University College Cork

  2. From National to Local …in 10 minutes!

  3. Austerity – National context • Over 1.5 million people have €50 or less left over at the end of the month after their essential bills have been paid (League of Credit Unions, 2013) • The deprivation rate is 22.5% ( an increase of 5.5% in one year), 730,000 living in poverty, 1 in 5 children in poverty • Emigration 90,000 (2013) 50,000 Irish nationals • 100,000 households in need of social housing • Without Socal Welfare payments 51% of Ireland’s population would be at risk of poverty (up from 43% in 2008) • Fourth lowest tax take a % of GDP in EU

  4. Austerity – welfare • Cuts to welfare • Charges increased/introduced on public services • Cuts to services • Cuts to public sector wages • Privatising services, • Reshaping welfare, moving the ‘goals posts’ of debate……......... ….and more • Vulnerable and disadvanged targetted again e.g. Harvey, Brian (2013) Travelling with Austerity: Impacts of cuts on Travellers, Traveller Projects and Services

  5. Impact on local social services - a ‘ring around’ • Social worker - older people Outsourcing of work – domestic workers…. care workers Charging for activities Pressure on families to pay – inequalities in service General anxiety/insecurity among services users

  6. Social work – children and families Pressure on parents/carers – growth in ‘neglect’ Parents unable to provide adequate care - substance misuse / mental health problems Cutbacks in services – support services Restriction on employment of social workers / cover for maternity leave Employment of agency staff (on different contracts) Outsourcing of residential care – local authority residential care run down – private providers more selective. Cut backs in support services / NGO programme

  7. Outsourcing of residential care – local authority residential care run down – private providers more selective. Cut backs in support services / NGO programme • Neighbourhood social worker Dramatic cutbacks in youth services Growth in poverty New Child and Family Support Agencies (families centres) Cathal O’Connell Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan (Oct 2013) Regeneration on the Northside of Cork City: The Impact of Spending Reductions.

  8. SIPTU SLIDE

  9. Resistance

More Related