Vol. 505 No. 4
61 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance his views on whether an adequate share of the Exchequer surplus is being made available to relieve poverty; and if he will allocate further resources for this purpose in view of the extra Exchequer funds anticipated. [12847/99]
Government policy in relation to the alleviation of poverty is contained within the overall umbrella of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy, NAPS, whereby targets have been set to reduce, among other things, the numbers of persons who are consistently poor. The NAPS has resulted in a re-prioritising of poverty issues within the context of Government expenditure.
The most significant contributor to poverty is unemployment. Assisting the unemployed – especially the long-term unemployed – to return to work has been a major feature of Government policy in recent years. Progress towards achieving the NAPS targets for unemployment has been much faster than anticipated so that the 2007 targets for total and long-term unemployment have almost been achieved.
The NAPS interdepartmental policy committee's annual report is due to be published on June 1 next and will outline the effectiveness to date of the overall strategy. In conjunction with this, an ESRI report on monitoring poverty trends will also be published based on a comparison of 1994 and 1997 data. In addition, the Combat Poverty Agency is carrying out an evaluation of the implementation of the NAPS which will be published later this year. These reports will inform policy development in relation to poverty including the question of the allocation of further resources.
