Chair of Workers Party Women ‘s Committee, Ursula Meighan said the Executive has failed to produce a credible anti-poverty strategy saying there is no evidence in the Anti-Poverty Strategy (APS) document that they understand or acknowledge the root causes of poverty and the resulting consequences it brings to working class families and communities. 

She went on to say that the pledge to support people in maximising their financial wellbeing offers no concrete mechanism beyond a promise to continue providing free financial advice which is highly unlikely to address structural poverty. The APS document promises that all children will have maximised opportunities in relation to education.

Ms Meighan noted that children in Northern Ireland are deprived of the free nursery places that are available in other regions of the United Kingdom. Children in England, Scotland, and Wales have thirty hours per week free nursery places during term time aimed at addressing socio-economic gaps. Unless workers fight for the extension of this benefit, children in Northern Ireland from working class households will continue to miss out on important educational and other opportunities.

The anti-poverty strategy promises to address gaps in childcare provision so that disadvantaged families can maximise their potential in the workplace. What they fail to offer is a commitment on workers rights and well paid sustainable employment which is completely ignored in the document.

Ms Meighan finished by saying the Department of the Economy and the Executive would be better focusing on creating well paid jobs and childcare places that would contribute to easing poverty, than extending a discredited RHI scheme and increasing payments to its users. Enough is Enough: it is time to stop gaslighting the public and shortchanging the working class.