Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 June 2015
13. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her plans to address the significant recent increases in the number of persons suffering deprivation and poverty, particularly child poverty and poverty among lone parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24837/15]
View answerThe official measure of poverty as used in the national social target for poverty reduction is consistent poverty - the combination of at-risk-of-poverty and basic deprivation. The rate of consistent poverty in 2013 was 8.2%, which was not a statistically significant change on 2012. The 2014 results are expected at the end of 2015. One of the component measures of consistent poverty is at-risk-of-poverty. This fell from 16.5% in 2012 to 15.2% in 2013. A key reason for this fall is the enhanced impact of social transfers in reducing income poverty. In 2013, social transfers reduced the at-risk-of-poverty rate for children from 45.5% to 17.9%; thereby lifting over a quarter of the population of children out of income poverty. This is equivalent to a poverty reduction effect of 61%. Ireland is the best performing EU member state in reducing poverty through social transfers.
Tackling poverty among children and families is a Government priority. The Government is implementing a whole-of-government, multi-dimensional approach to tackling the issue of child poverty.
A key way to tackle child poverty, and lone parent poverty, is to get parents back to work. The ongoing one parent family payment reforms and the new back to work family dividend - which I introduced in Budget 2015 - will support parents to take up and remain in employment, especially those furthest from the labour market.
In addition, as I said earlier, I look forward to examining the various supports available to all families with children, including single parent families, in the next Budget. In particular, I will look at the scope for further improvements in the child benefit, as well as other supports for families in part-time or full-time employment.
