People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin has described the Stormont Executive’s Anti-Poverty Strategy a “massive failure”.
Said Cllr Harkin: “We have been waiting for almost two decades for the Stormont Executive to implement a strategy to tackle poverty.
“The 28-page document released for consultation by the DUP Communities Minister, with the approval of the Stormont Executive, does not represent a new department to use the levers of government policy to undo deprivation.
“It’s a massive failure and should never have been signed-off on by the Stormont Executive.
“The Sinn Féin First Minister’s comment that the “anti-poverty strategy” they were releasing could “probably” have gone further is mindboggling.
“Recent research commissioned by the End Child Poverty Coalition found that 25.4% of children in Derry are living in poverty.
“The document is an insult to all those households across our communities looking to government for change.
“It’s an insult to all those individuals and organisations who provided input, lobbied and gave-up time and effort to inform a new strategy on behalf of hundreds of thousands of families, individuals and children from all backgrounds.
“The Stormont Executive’s inaction should not be accepted. Inaction will entrench and compound inequality in our society.
“A sustained people power push by anti-poverty campaigners, trade unions and community groups is needed to pose a political alternative to the Stormont Executive and reorder government priorities.”
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