At the Launch their ‘Decent Society’ policy, Billy Timmins TD said that future governments must be measured by social progress and not just economic growth.
RENUA Ireland proposes to introduce a method of measuring social progress annually, which instead of simply focusing on GDP growth rates would measure 58 areas covering literacy, homelessness, disease prevalence by area, school provision and economic activity. This measurement would become the bellwether in how Ireland is advancing each year.
We have a Fiscal Watchdog who watches over how we spend our money and tax our workers, but we have no Social Watchdog to inform the public how society is improving.
The voters have seen the worth of the Fiscal Watchdog for this election in telling the truth of what spending and tax commitments are realistic and what ones our bogus, this has transformed the election debate; we need the same impact for monitoring social progress.
How we, as a country, address poverty, child welfare, disability, elderly supports, long-term unemployed, homelessness and mental health defines a nation’s character.
Our Decent Society Policy proposes clear ideas in each of these areas, underpinned by a measurement through our social progress indicator.
We propose an integrated plan to help homeless people to deal with many of the problems which affect them. Local authorities will be mandated to put an inter-agency plan in place to ensure a network of supports are made available to enable all those who want to live a full life are provided with avenues to achieve this goal.
It is not possible to Reward Work and Rebuild Trust in our political system unless we have decency in our society.
