Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 April 2013
50. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has conducted any research on identifying a minimum essential standard of living; if she will provide the results of this research and the methodology used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18837/13]
View answerThe Department has not directly undertaken research on identifying a minimum essential standard of living for households. However, as part of its overall function of research into poverty and social exclusion issues, the Department has indirectly supported research related to this area, namely through a social policy project approved by the Irish Research Council under its Research Development Initiative in 2010. The project titled 'Establishing Minimum Income Standards for Irish Households' was a joint initiative of Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics and the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. The latter body has a long-running series of research publications in this area. A report on the study titled 'A Minimum Income Standard for Ireland - A consensual budget standards study examining household types across the lifecycle' was published in 2012 and is available at the following link (http://www.tcd.ie/policy-institute/publications/bluepaper_27.php).
