AT yesterday's press conference to present the Pathways document, Father Sean Healy was criticised by a senior civil servant for "propagandising."
The assistant secretary at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Mr Seamus Moran, expressed concern about "the nature of the presentation" of the document, before "a captive audience".
Describing himself as "a sceptic" on basic income proposals, he felt Father Healy "would have done everyone a greater service" if some opposing voices had been invited to the presentation to give their views. He felt the document "ignored the real dynamic in the economy". It had not addressed how entrepreneurship could be fostered.
Father Healy took "very grave exception" to Mr Moran's remarks. He was "not afraid" of being criticised, and contrasted this with the Department's dismissal of the basic income idea in a few lines in the Nevin report. Mr Moran later said he had not meant to be "dismissive or pejorative".
The Pathways document was presented yesterday because it was the first day of the new tax year, and it was also the 1,000th day to the millennium, Father Healy said. He hoped it might inspire people to engage in dialogue "in a very real and meaningful way" so a better route could be found towards social justice than existed now. He said CORI was "really concerned about deepening divisions in society" and felt a change of direction was needed to correct what he believed was an unstable situation.
Everybody was entitled to a basic dignity in living, he said, and he believed a basic income was the best way to ensure this.
The social welfare system had been designed for conditions 50 years ago, he said and its continued use was like driving and maintaining a 50 year old car. "We need a new model, one for the 21st century," he said, "for a world that is fundamentally different than it was 50 years ago.
Senator Joe Lee, who presented the document, said it had "either to be shot down convincingly or it must be taken on board." It was a "very significant, very serious contribution to the economic debate in this country," he said.
