Máirín Quill
Question:51 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to fight poverty and social exclusion afflicted on persons in Irish society. [13055/96]
Written Answers. - Poverty and Social Exclusion Measures.
The Deputy's question is a very broad one and touches on just about all areas of my Department's activities not to mention a number of other Ministers' portfolios as well. I will confine myself to a number of main points.
First, and most important, the Government, at my suggestion, has embarked on a major project to combat poverty by means of the national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS. At the UN World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the Irish Government, with other Governments, agreed a programme of action geared to a substantial reduction of overall poverty and inequalities everywhere. After the summit, the Government accepted my proposals for the development of a strategy by a high level interdepartmental policy committee.
This committee is composed of representatives of Government Departments and national agencies, FÁS and ADM and has been charged with preparing a report which will form part of the national report for the United Nations, to be completed before the end of 1996 to demonstrate national progress in implementing the UN commitment.
The strategy has, to date, involved: the preparation of a statement setting out the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in Ireland and the evaluation of submissions from the voluntary and community sector, the social partners and other interested bodies and individuals; the selection of key issues — policy areas which must be addressed if poverty and social exclusion are to be tackled, i.e. educational disadvantage, unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment, income adequacy, regenerating disadvantaged communities with concentrations of poverty, and tackling poverty in rural areas; discussing the type of institutional mechanisms to be put in place to ensure that the issue of reducing poverty and social exclusion is firmly on the agenda of all Government Departments and agencies and that there is appropriate co-ordination across and between Departments in this area; the holding of regional seminars to discuss the submissions received further.
The next steps in the process will involve the following: the NAPS process will feed into the Strategic Management Initiative currently under way in the public service — each Department will review its activities in light of the anti-poverty strategy and areas will be identified which cut across Departments and strategic responses will be developed; the review of and the setting out of institutional mechanisms which should be put in place to ensure that the issue of social exclusion remains a high priority; the voluntary and community sector will continue to be engaged and consulted as part of the process; a report to the UN will be finalised before the end of the year setting out progress to date and a strategy for the future.
My Department continues to fund and work closely with the Combat Poverty Agency, a statutory agency whose primary aim is to provide policy advice, carry out pilot anti-poverty programmes, commission and carry out research and provide public education and information in order to reduce poverty, inequality and social exclusion in Ireland.
In order to ensure the agency continues to maximise its resources in the fight against poverty, an independent review of its activities has recently been carried out. I expect to publish it shortly. The report recommends various proposals to enhance the effectiveness of the agency which I intend to ensure are implemented as a matter of priority.
I have overseen the continued expansion of my Department's community development programme. The programme provides financial assistance towards the staffing and equipping of local resource centres which provide a focal point for community development activities in areas of disadvantage. My plans for future expansion and development of the programme are outlined in the reply to a separate question on today's Order Paper.
There are almost 80 projects participating, or in the process of being set up, in the programme. The 1996 budget for the programme is approximately £4.5 million. Other grant schemes to aid the community and voluntary sector to combat poverty are also operated by my Department. These include schemes of grants to voluntary organisations, locally based women's and men's groups, lone parents groups and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service.
I have recently introduced, in the context of the Social Welfare Bill, 1996, various changes to the social welfare system itself which are in various ways designed to combat poverty and social exclusion. These include: a 3 per cent increase in weekly personal and adult dependant rates of payment and an increase of £2 in the monthly rates of child benefit; and an important reform of the unemployment assistance scheme with the aim of making it more attractive for people to take up part-time employment by enabling them to retain a higher proportion of their social welfare payment when they do so thus attempting to reduce so-called "poverty traps".
In the latter context, the Deputy will wish to note that the working group set up to look at integration issues in relation to the tax and social welfare systems is due to report shortly.
A prime focus of its work has been the reduction in the number of poverty and unemployment traps in these systems.
In the context of the forthcoming Irish Presidency, I hope to be addressing the matter of social exclusion at EU level in a number of ways. I hope to be in a position to brief the House from time to time on progress in this area.