Cullen, B. (1989) Poverty, Community and Development: A report on the issues of social policy that have arisen in the work of the nine projects of the Second European Programme to Combat Poverty, 1985-1989, Dublin, Combat Poverty Agency.
The Second European Programme to Combat Poverty, 1985-9, was set up following a decision of the Council of the European Communities in 1984, which recommended action-research projects among particular target groups identified as being in poverty, including the long-term and young unemployed, the elderly, lone parents, marginal groups such as homeless, Travellers and residents of disadvantaged urban and rural areas. The programme was co-funded by the Irish government and was supported through the Combat Poverty Agency. In the operation of the programme, participating projects commissioned a study to explore and elaborate on emerging issues for social policy. This report reports on these issues and on the process that was used to bring clarity to those issues that were considered to have most priority. The main issue to emerge was the need for a single government programme to support community development, and the report spells out what could be involved in a state-funded community development programme. Other issues included the need for community integration of local social services provision, and issues relating to income, housing and community education.