Aindrias Moynihan
Question:19. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework for Ireland overseen by his Department. [10825/23]
View answerTuesday, 21 March 2023
Questions (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:20. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework for Ireland overseen by his Department. [11070/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:21. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework. [11606/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:22. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework. [12650/23]
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Gary Gannon
Question:23. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework for Ireland overseen by his Department. [12653/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:24. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework. [12944/23]
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Ivana Bacik
Question:25. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the well-being framework for Ireland overseen by his Department. [13430/23]
View answerOral answers (8 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 to 25, inclusive, together.
The Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice is a programme for Government commitment to measure how we are doing overall as a country and to improve our understanding of quality of life in Ireland. It does this by bringing economic, societal and environmental outcomes together under one framework. It places a particular focus on equality and sustaining well-being into the future. The framework provides a multidimensional picture of quality of life in Ireland. It covers 11 dimensions, including areas like mental and physical health, income and wealth, the environment, and safety. Analysis of the framework takes place annually. This analysis assesses Ireland's progress over time in comparison to other EU countries and with reference to equality and sustainability.
Last year, the well-being framework featured as part of the national economic dialogue, the summer economic statement and expenditure reports. It was also part of a new budget day document, Budget 2023: Beyond GDP - Quality of Life Assessment. An updated analysis of the framework will be published ahead of the next national economic dialogue and budget cycle. Work is ongoing to further integrate the framework into policy making. This includes work by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to embed a well-being perspective into expenditure and evaluation decisions. What has been accomplished in Ireland over a short period compares very favourably with other countries as we continue to learn from the experience of leaders in this area. We believe the framework can help policymakers to make decisions to improve quality of life beyond economic growth alone.
The Department of the Taoiseach has a lead role in advancing the well-being framework, which is aimed at ensuring budgetary funds are advanced not merely through purely economic measures but also through a range of things that are of value and are priorities for us, including educational attainment, biodiversity, the quality of housing and many other different values.
A very significant milestone was achieved in advancing the framework last year when it was included in the summer economic statement and in budget 2023. Is that pace and roll-out going to continue this year and in the years ahead? What Departments are now actively engaged and included in advancing the programme? I understand that not all of them are there yet. What is the plan for ensuring all Departments will be part of the framework and will include it as part of their budgetary framework?
Looking ahead to budget 2024, can the Taoiseach give us an example of somewhere where we will be able to see evidence of the framework influencing budgetary policy ahead of 2024?
The well-being framework tells us that the number of people experiencing discrimination in Ireland is rising. It is important to acknowledge this reality today as we mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Analysis commissioned by the Higher Education Authority, HEA, in 2021 found that more than a third of minority ethnic third level staff were subjected to racial or ethnic discrimination. The research also demonstrated widespread discrimination blindness among non-ethnic staff with fewer than half of respondents agreeing that there was clear guidance on what actions to take when they experienced or witnessed racist discrimination, harassment or abuse. University employees from minority ethnic groups were less likely to have a permanent contract and were more likely to earn less than their white colleagues.
I commend the HEA on the launch of the antiracism principles initiative yesterday and the acknowledgement by the presidents of our universities that race inequality is an issue in their institutions. Racism, of course, is not limited to higher education. The structural discrimination set out so starkly in the HEA research tells us that today’s message on discrimination - "Learn, Speak Up, Act" - must be adopted by leaders across all State institutions. The theme of this year’s international day focuses on the urgency of combating racism and racial discrimination. What initiatives will the Taoiseach and his Ministers announce today to reinforce that very important message?
If well-being and quality of life are to mean anything, they must surely mean that people have some security about the place where they live.
I do not see how someone can possibly have either of those things if they do not have security about where they live. The Government's decision to lift the eviction ban means approximately 750,000 people in rented accommodation in this country have now confirmed they will have no security, and many of them will face eviction into homelessness and have nowhere to go.
Earlier, Deputy Duncan Smith made the comparison with Europe, where if a landlord is selling or if there is no fault on the part of the tenant, people cannot be evicted. We believe that should also be the case here. The Taoiseach said that would cause us problems because we cannot do it retrospectively. I want to draw that out from him. Is he saying that from now on, he is in favour of that principle and that, while we might have to deal with a legacy, in future we are going to give security to all tenants in the private rented sector and the Government will legislate to that effect? I doubt he is saying that, but that was the inference one could draw and that is what should happen. Why is it that anybody in private rented accommodation should not enjoy the security and well-being of knowing that if they do nothing wrong and pay their rent, they will not end up being evicted? Why should they not enjoy the security that other people in society enjoy? Will the Taoiseach please explain that to me? Currently, they do not have that security. The Damocles sword of potential homelessness is constantly hovering over their head, and for many of them, that sword will fall in the next few months.
One strand of the well-being framework is dedicated to improving the mental health of the population in their workplaces, schools and homes. However, it was reported this morning that there has been a drop since the pandemic in the number of people who believe it is okay to ask their employer for a mental health break. St. Patrick's Mental Health Services in Dublin have shown that 22% of people have experienced discrimination at work due to a mental health difficulty, while over half of those surveyed were not aware that people with mental health difficulties have the right to reasonable accommodations in the workplace. These statistics come just weeks after it was found that Ireland is among the countries with the lowest mental health scores in the world. The annual mental state of the world report shows that our young people are five times more likely to have mental health setbacks than those in previous generations. In what way is the well-being framework tackling these workplace issues and the attitudes which cause them?
The well-being framework specifically recognises the importance of housing to well-being. There can be nothing more important for a person's well-being than having a secure home. Renters from all over Ireland have posted their harrowing stories on uplift.ie of how the lifting of the eviction ban will affect them. Has the Taoiseach read these testimonies, and if not, will he read them? Here are three testimonies from people in my constituency that I will share with him. Áine says she is one half of an older couple due to be evicted because their home is being sold. They have been on the housing list for 14 years. Anna says she has been living in her home for 13 years and is at high risk of eviction. She says the rent she has paid over this time could have bought her her own house. She cannot believe she will be homeless, given she has been working full-time since she was a teenager. Gerard says he is at constant risk of eviction and that people cannot plan beyond their lease length or start a family. This is Ireland, he says. Will the Taoiseach do the right thing, reverse his utterly reprehensible decision and keep the eviction ban in place?
I note the focus on equality in the well-being framework and highlight that this year marks two important anniversaries, namely, the 30th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality through the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 and 40 years since the landmark case taken by our dear colleague Senator Norris to the Supreme Court in 1983. In that context, have all Government records regarding the litigation and the proposals for law reform been released to the National Archives and are they now publicly available? This would include records from relevant Departments and the Office of the Attorney General, among other State offices. The releasing of all these records, and making them publicly available by way of an archive, would be a really great and positive way of marking, in particular, the 30th anniversary of this important law reform. Of course, cataloguing the records to make them accessible to researchers would be a huge part of that.
As the Taoiseach will recall, my party colleague Deputy Nash proposed some years ago an apology and exoneration Bill to set aside convictions for sexual acts between men that are now lawful and the then Minister for Justice held a public consultation on this late last year. Will the Taoiseach advise what the next steps on that will be? Again, it would be good timing to bring forward that legislation now.
I thank the Deputies for their questions. On the wider piece about the use of well-being indicators, which I am very much in favour of, in fairness to this Government and all previous Governments, including ones I did not support, they have always taken into account more than economic growth, GDP and public finances. The nature of politics is that you take into account many different indicators in making your decisions, whether it is unemployment, inflation and the cost of living, homeownership, which is the ultimate form of housing security in my view, safety, crime rates or poverty rates. All those things have always been taken into account by governments in making their decisions, or at least in my experience.
We will publish the new national action plan on racism at 4 p.m. today. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has done a huge amount of work on it and it is very positive. Deputies will have a chance to go through that during the course of the day.
Deputy Boyd Barrett asked whether we could pass a law prospectively, applying to new rental properties, whereby evictions could happen only on a no-fault basis, and my understanding is that that could be done. I do not think it could be done retrospectively, applying to people who rented out properties on a different basis, but if we were to say to people that from now on, if they are renting out a property for the first time, they must accept they may never be able to gain possession of it provided the person pays their rent, we could potentially do that, but that is a very different model of a private rented sector. It is the kind of model that exists in some European countries, where almost all landlords are professional or institutional landlords and there are not the kinds of small or mom-and-pop landlords we have here, but there would be consequences. One thing we have done already is to make all new tenancies tenancies of indefinite duration. We have already made that change. If we were to say all future tenancies were going to be no-fault tenancies, that would bring about a major change in the private rental sector, but it would have other consequences. I think we would probably see an increase in vacancy rates, because the person who, for example, goes abroad for a year or two, which is pretty common, would, of course, never rent out their apartment or house if they would never be able to recover it unless the person did not pay their rent. We would probably see people who currently might buy a property for their kid to live in when they become a student in college buying it and leaving it vacant because that was the purpose of their buying it. We might even see people willing to pay the vacancy tax rather than not being able to move back into their own house after having to go away for six months or two years. We would have to think of all those kinds of knock-on consequences that would arise from a pretty fundamental change like that, but I am sure it could only be done prospectively. I do not think we could say to somebody who bought a house to live in ten or 15 years ago and is renting it out for a particular period that they could never regain possession of it unless the tenant did not pay their rent or was engaging in antisocial behaviour. I do not see how that would be either right or constitutional.
On the issue of mental health, absolutely, mental health is a huge part of well-being and we will have to see how we could integrate it into this framework. I saw a survey the other day which said that Ireland is the 14th happiest country in the world, which is not bad out of 200 countries. Obviously, I would like us to be in the top ten - as we are in almost everything in the world, believe it or not - or certainly in the top 20. Obviously, different surveys work in different ways and use different methodologies.
In respect of the documents Deputy Bacik raised, I will have to check up on that. I do not know where we are in terms of that but I will certainly do that.
Finally, I was asked about how the well-being framework works into the budget. We have committed to featuring the well-being framework at relevant points in the budget cycle. It was the theme of the national economic dialogue last year and the analysis also featured in the summer economic statement and in budget day documentation. It is intended this will be an annual contribution to the budget which will feed into a broader discussion of the impacts of budgetary decisions. For example, this approach provides evidence for the identification of potential priorities, highlighting progress, or a lack thereof, across a wide range of policy issues that are important for longer term quality of life and sustainability over the medium term. Work is also ongoing in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to further embed a well-being perspective into expenditure decisions.
The Department has published a working paper that locates well-being within the context of the budgetary timeline and, in particular, proposes an approach that provides a cross-governmental description of current and capital expenditure in terms of well-being dimensions. I look forward to the impact the framework will provide to the budget every year as we use it to look beyond economic indicators and assess how Government policies are best serving the people of Ireland.