Vol. 486 No. 4
48 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on the fact that, in spite of having the fastest growing economy in the EU, Ireland has the second highest rate of child poverty; and the proposals, if any, he has for tackling this problem. [2145/98]
In May 1997 the Statistical Office of the EU, Eurostat, issued a paper based on data drawn from the European Community Household Panel which found that in 1993, 28 per cent of children in Ireland lived in poor households, the second highest proportion in the European Union.
While the higher risk of poverty for households with children is a continuation of a trend apparent since 1973, the findings of the Eurostat study quite rightly gave cause for concern. However, since the survey took place there has been an ongoing policy response by successive Governments to this serious social policy issue. This response has been twofold. First, in the area of income support measures, such as child benefit and family income supplement and secondly, in the introduction of measures aimed at removing disincentives to taking up employment.
In the four year period since the survey was carried out, the economy enjoyed a period of very stronggrowth. Employment growth was especially strong with non-agricultural employment, excluding schemes, increasing by 126,000 between 1993 and 1996. Unemployment fell from 15.3 per cent in December 1993 to 9.8 per cent in December 1997. This is particularly important since over half of all poor children were living in households headed by an unemployed person.
There is widespread agreement that child income support policy should focus on improving child benefit and this is the approach which I followed in last December's budget. The child benefit increases in the recent budget represent, in part, a targeting of resources at larger families who are more at risk of experiencing poverty. A further initiative which impacts on children was the amendment of the family income supplement scheme; income limits were increased and eligibility for the supplement is now based on net income. The budget also provided for the establishment of a new family affairs unit in my Department to co-ordinate family policy and the development of family service in my Department.
Child poverty is perhaps the greatest single justification for a national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS. Educational disadvantage, central to the perpetuation of poverty within families and communities, and unemployment are two of the key areas identified in the NAPS for particular attention.
