Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2023
137. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Taoiseach if he will outline how the new child poverty unit within his Department will address the data deficit in terms of regional mapping of child poverty; what means the unit will use to assess where there are higher concentrations of child poverty; and what ethnic identifiers the unit will use to assess which populations are most at risk and to ensure that culturally appropriate supports are in place. [42689/23]
View answerThe Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office published its initial work programme for the next two and a half years From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Poverty and Well-being 2023-2025 on 1st August 2023. The initial Programme focuses on six areas that will have the greatest effect on the lives of children who experience poverty. These six areas are:
1) Income supports and joblessness
2) Early learning and childcare
3) Reducing the cost of education
4) Family homelessness
5) Consolidating and integrating family and parental support, health and well-being
6) Enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty.
The Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office will mine existing data sources to bring a sharp focus to and measure progress in these areas.
Over the last two decades, the Government has significantly invested in building a data and research infrastructure to understand children’s lives, including their experiences of poverty.
This investment means we now have a much better understanding both of area-based concentrations of poverty, as well as of how children experience poverty in their daily lives, regardless of whether they live in deprived neighbourhoods or not.
The Pobal HP Deprivation Index, published every five years following the Census, is Ireland’s primary social gradient tool. It provides a valuable tool for the identification of disadvantage and identifying children living in disadvantaged communities. The next iteration of the Pobal HP Deprivation index is currently under construction using data from the 2022 Census. The Index will be launched publicly on the 2 November and will be made available at the Small Area level to Government Departments and State Agencies from this date.
The CSO recently published detailed Census data by small area. This online interactive map includes many indicators which are relevant to understanding the prevalence of child poverty in particular locations.
The CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is a household survey covering a broad range of issues in relation to income and living conditions. It is the official source of data on household and individual income and provides key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate, and rates of enforced deprivation. SILC results are published by age group. They are also published by region and urban/rural location. In 2021, there was a SILC module which collected data on child-specific deprivation.
The SILC results are not published by small area, but in the past have been analysed to provide additional insights into the character of child poverty at local level. For example, in 2021, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs published Income, Poverty and Deprivation among Children: A Statistical Baseline Analysis , a commissioned study written by Delma Byrne and Morag Treanor.
Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children in Ireland and provides detailed insight into the development of children across socio-economic groups. It includes questions on experiences of poverty and material deprivation as reported by the children themselves, using a set of deprivation items, specific to children.
Because of the nature of the survey, which focuses on a particular group over time, GUI is not suitable for establishing poverty rates among the child population as a whole, but can provide useful insight into the effect of children’s economic background over time. Also, as a sample survey, it is not suitable for mapping detailed regional breakdowns. Several published studies have used GUI data to better understand the experience and impacts of living in poverty.
While the deprivation Index, EU SILC and GUI offer substantial insights into child poverty, there are other important sources of data on children’s lives which are relevant to the work of the Programme Office. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth publishes an indicator set for the National Framework on Children and Young People. This indicator set (last published in 2022) includes many broader measures which track outcomes in children’s lives.
GUI and SILC use the same ethnic identifiers as used in the Census. The CSO and DCEDIY are currently developing a National Equality Data Strategy. The Strategy will recommend the use of Census classification for equality variables such as ethnicity when collecting and disaggregating data. This strategy will be the starting point for improving the collection, disaggregation and use of equality data by the Civil and Public Service in Ireland.
The Government has recognised that disadvantaged areas require new forms of assistance to help them prosper. A Programme Board of relevant Departments and public bodies has been established under the auspices of the Department of the Taoiseach to explore how local consortia of state and community organisations can be incentivised to work in more integrated ways.
Critical to the success of area-based responses is ensuring that the analysis of issues is data and evidence informed. One area of focus is how to mine all relevant data for these areas in order to focus on the most critical issues facing individual communities. The Department of the Taoiseach is working with partners across government to explore how we can maximise the use of the full range of data sources to generate a deeper understanding and a more bespoke response to the challenges individual families and communities face.
The Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office will use all the available sources of data to track progress in relation to the six priority areas identified in its initial Programme, including through the publication of an annual report.
The Office will also assist broader initiatives to enhance area-based understanding of poverty generally and child poverty specifically, including through the development of four local child poverty pilot plans, being led by DCEDIY and DRCD.
