Colm Fitzpatrick
Personal Profile
Paul Ginnell tells Colm Fitzpatrick about his new role in fighting poverty
With thousands of people affected by consistent poverty in Ireland, a new director of an Irish-based anti-poverty network is stepping up to the mark to let his voice be heard.
European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland (EAPN), established in 1990, is a national Irish network which has been working for over two decades in lobbying for progressive social change across Europe.
Following his role as Policy Officer since 2005, Paul Ginnell has recently been appointed Director at EAPN, taking over from Robin Hanan who retires this January.
Speaking about his new position, Paul said “I’m excited. It’s going to be difficult as levels of poverty are high. It’s a big challenge”, adding that the extra challenges require extra responsibility.
Experience
Paul, who is a qualified Community Worker with a Masters in Applied Social Studies, was Coordinator of Westmeath EQUAL and worked with the Association for People with Disabilities in Kenya and Concern Worldwide in Sudan, before coming to EAPN.
With over a decade of experience on the team, he is now well-known to members for his policy and training work, as well as playing an important part in policy development and advocacy in the EAPN’s European network, as one of the co-chairs of the 31-country policy group, and speaking at a wide range of official and NGO seminars and conferences.
In Ireland, as well as his work in research and policy development, Paul has built strong alliances as convenor of the Community Platform, the main alliance of national organisations working for equality and social inclusion, and the Better Europe Alliance which unites the social and environmental NGOs and trade unions working to impact on European policy.
Although his work can be difficult, Paul is resolute that it is his supportive team which make EAPN’s goals achievable.
“It’s a team effort though we all have different titles – we do as much as we can,” he said, adding that the team are “well aware of the challenges”.
This belief of working together is epitomised in the structure of EAPN Ireland which is made up of more than 200 local, regional and national anti-poverty organisations and individuals.
It lobbies at local, national and European level in an effort to ensure that policy development is progressive and ‘poverty proofed’, focusing on a range of issues such as the Irish budget, national action plan for social inclusion and the developmental welfare state.
Although there are various organisations and networks which attempt to alleviate poverty in Ireland, Paul believes that EAPN is unique because of its grass-roots outlook, which empowers people in disparate economic situations.
“We’re very much committed to core values,” he explained. “People in communities have value and play a part. We go out and engage with people in communities and we have members on the ground to hear others.”
EAPN Ireland also works to empower local and regional organisations committed to tackling poverty and social exclusion through training, information dissemination, advocacy and alliance building.
This is vitally important given the fact that there over 400,000 people in consistent poverty in Ireland, which has a negative impact on society and the personal lives of those experiencing this dearth.
“Before the crisis in 2008, the government was managing to make an impact. There were improvements in services and in communities – so it was beginning to get there”, explained Paul.
“Over the last 10 years things have gotten really bad, and there’s quite a number of people who have been impacted.”
He also added that material deprivation is a serious issue, which describes the situation of not being able to afford at least two of the 11 goods or services considered essential for a basic standard of living, such as two pairs of strong shoes or the ability to maintain an adequately warm house.
“People should be able to afford the essentials. It’s going to take some time to repair the damages that have been done,” he says, pointing out that 24.4% of the population experienced material deprivation in 2015.
Setbacks
Despite these setbacks, Paul believes that there have been some positive changes and is looking forward to the government’s consultation on a new National Action Plan for Social Exclusion. This new anti-poverty strategy aims to ensure that everyone has access to a guaranteed income, a quality work place with correct wages paid, and sufficient housing for everyone, all of which is affordable and based on human rights, dignity and equality.
Poverty and social exclusion has many causes such as a lack of access to adequate income, quality service or a fulfilling job. The impact of these absences can create a feeling of disempowerment, and in the long term, have detrimental consequences on the social and emotional wellbeing of people.
EAPN believes that poverty and social exclusion are not inevitable, but can be effectively addressed, ameliorated and removed by tackling their structural causes.
“We really need to see the policies in place”, said Paul, adding that there is still a lot to be done.
For more information about EAPN, see: http://www.eapn.ie/