Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
93. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection if he proposes to establish a new metric for gathering data on childhood poverty in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50384/22]
View answerAs Minister with responsibility for social inclusion, I have a strong interest in addressing all forms of poverty and addressing child poverty is a Government priority.
The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is the whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim to reduce consistent poverty for the overall population to 2 per cent or less by 2025, and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. The Roadmap commits to setting a new national child poverty target. As Chair of the Steering Group for the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, I have responsibility overseeing the strategy's implementation.
The current national child poverty target, identified in Better Outcomes Brighter Futures, requires a 66% reduction in the number of children in consistent poverty by the end of 2020 (from its 2011 level of 107,000). This commitment is reiterated in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, which includes a chapter on supporting children and families with the goal of reducing child poverty in Ireland and ensuring that all families have the opportunity to participate fully in society. Against the 2011 baseline, the number of children in consistent poverty has fallen by 45,000 (from 107,000 in 2011to 62,000 in 2021) and the consistent poverty rate has fallen by 4.1 percentage points (from 9.3 per cent in 2011 to 5.2 per cent in 2021).
The development of a new national target is complex and is to be achieved within the wider policy environment, in particular the development of the successor to Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, and the National Action Plan for the EU Child Guarantee, both led by the Department of Children. In this regard, I met with my colleague Roderic O'Gorman, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth earlier this year to discuss the development of a new target, with further engagement taking place between officials in our respective Departments to progress the matter in recent months.
In addition, at a European level, the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan contains a headline target for poverty reduction for the EU as a whole based on a different metric: to reduce the number of people At Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion by at least 15 million (compared to 2019) of which at least 5 million (33 per cent) should be children. All Member States were asked to set ambitious national targets to provide an adequate contribution to the achievement of the EU level target, including a specific child poverty component. Ireland’s agreed contribution to the EU headline poverty target is to reduce the number of people At Risk of Poverty and Social Exclusion (AROPE) by 90,000, at least 50 per cent of whom are to be children (45,000). This is more ambitious than what was proposed by the European Commission and reflects the more ambitious targets set in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion.
When considering metrics for the measurement of poverty and in setting targets, it is important to retain consistency in order to be able to compare performance over time, and also with other countries in the EU. However, other metrics can be usefully considered to supplement our understanding. In this regard, I welcome the recent publication of the 2021 SILC module on child specific deprivation.
Questions Nos. 94 to 100, inclusive, answered orally.
