Anne Rabbitte
Question:1175. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of children under 18 years of age who live in consistent poverty. [34186/17]
View answerThursday, 13 July 2017
Questions (1175, 1176)
Anne Rabbitte
Question:1176. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of children under 18 years of age who live in consistent poverty before social transfers. [34187/17]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1175 and 1176 together.
The latest CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) results for 2015 show that the consistent poverty rate for children was 11.5% in 2015, or 139,000 children. This compared to a rate of 12.7%, or 152,000 children, the year before. The 2015 results show that consistent poverty among children fell by 1.2 percentage points in 2015, equating to a fall of 13,000 on the child poverty target.
These figures relate to the situation after the impact of social transfers is taken into account. The Central Statistics Office does not report the percentage of children under 18 years of age that live in consistent poverty before social transfers.
The Government set a child poverty target in 2014 in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the national policy framework for children and young people 2014-2020 (BOBF). The target was to reduce the number of children in consistent poverty by over 70,000 between 2011 and 2020. From the revised outcome for 2015, meeting this target would now require lifting over 102,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020.
In support of the child poverty target in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the Government is implementing a whole-of-government approach to tackling child poverty, building on the life-cycle approach adopted in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, 2007-2016. A range of government departments and other stakeholders are involved in implementing this approach.