Seán Crowe
Question:102 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the measures she has put in place since taking office to tackle child poverty. [17544/04]
View answerTuesday, 15 June 2004
Questions (56)
Written answers
Tackling child poverty has been and continues to be amongst my key priorities since taking office. Child poverty can seriously diminish the experience and enjoyment of childhood. It can also greatly inhibit the realisation of the potential of children, which can not only have major negative lifelong consequences for their individual well being, but also, in economic terms, for human capital and for social cohesion.
Strategies to address child poverty and the measures to give effect to them are set out in the revised national anti-poverty strategy, the national children's strategy and, more recently, in the national action plan against poverty and social exclusion. The overall target is to reduce the number of children who are consistently poor to below 2% by 2007 and, if possible, to eliminate consistent poverty amongst children by then. Significant progress has been made towards achieving this target. By 2001, the number of children who are consistently poor had fallen to 6.5% — down from 15.3% in 1997.
One of the key factors underpinning this reduction in child poverty is the reduction in the numbers of parents who are unemployed. Our aim is to continue to maintain high levels of employment and to remove obstacles to taking up employment, especially in the case of lone parents and parents with large families. This approach is reflected in the investment that has been made in child benefit, which offers an effective means of channelling income support to low income families in order to tackle child poverty. Payments amount to €131.60 for the first and second children and €165.30 for third and subsequent children.
The importance of tackling child poverty is reflected in the fact that ending child poverty was identified as one of ten special initiatives being undertaken under Sustaining Progress. Under this initiative, key policy issues are being addressed, including, for instance: child income support arrangements; the development of a strategy for strengthening families; initiation of a longitudinal study of children; and barriers to employment, particularly for lone parents and larger families. The work being undertaken under the special initiative will further enhance our capacity to tackle the issue of child poverty.