Vol. 561 No. 6
64 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to a recent report (details supplied) which observed that older women are at a higher risk of poverty than men; her views on this report; if she will take steps to address this situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4827/03]
The report referred to by the Deputy, which is based largely on 1997 data, offers a valuable perspective on the position of older people and highlights, inter alia, the fact that women aged 65 and over are more likely than men to be at risk of poverty. This issue has also been reflected in the more recent data analysis, drawing on data from 2000, undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute for my Department. Older women in Ireland as in many other countries are at greater risk of poverty than older men due to their employment history. Many of them would have been out of the workforce for long periods caring for their families or in part-time or other low income employment. As a result they would not have been in a position to build up adequate pension entitlements in their own right.
It is against this background that the revised national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS, launched in February 2002, identifies women and the elderly generally as being amongst those groups particularly vulnerable to poverty. In relation to women and the elderly, the key target of the revised NAPS is to aim by 2007 to reduce the number of women and older people who are consistently poor to below 2%, and if possible, to eliminate consistent poverty altogether. A number of key Government policies are specifically targeted at increasing incomes and will thus have the effect of reducing the risk of poverty amongst older women. In particular, Government pension policy has been based on a three pronged approach including increased level of payments; greater coverage of contributory based payments; and increased number of people with supplementary pension cover.
