Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 24 Oct 2002

Vol. 556 No. 2

Written Answers. - Anti-Poverty Strategy.

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

24 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress being made on the Government's objective, as set out in the An Agreed Programme for Government, to reduce consistent poverty to below 2%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19502/02]

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

31 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who live below the poverty line; the measures she intends to take to reduce this number substantially; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19503/02]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 31 together.

The national anti-poverty strategy (NAPS) uses the measure of consistent poverty, developed by the ESRI, to measure the progress made in relation to addressing the issue of poverty in Ireland. Consistent poverty uses income thresholds combined with deprivation indicators to measure the number of people or households in poverty.

The revised NAPS, published by the Government in February this year, contained a new target to reduce the numbers of those who are ‘consistently poor' below 2% and, if possible, eliminate consistent poverty.

Recent years have seen significant reductions in the level of consistent poverty in Ireland, due, inter alia, to increases in employment and reductions in unemployment. In 1994, the level of consistent poverty was 15.1%. This was reduced to 6% in 2000, the latest year for which figures are available.

It is recognised that there is no single way to measure poverty. No one method can provide all the answers. Income alone does not tell the whole story concerning living standards and command over resources, and it is also necessary to look more broadly at a person's exclusion from participation in society because of lack of resources. This is particularly the case in trying to capture trends in poverty in a situation of very rapid growth in average incomes such as we have experienced in this country in recent years.

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

25 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when the implementation of the revised national anti-poverty strategy will commence; the structures and resources she is putting in place to advance this strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19507/02]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

The revised national anti-poverty strategy, Building an Inclusive Society, launched earlier this year, recognised that its implementation would require a mobilisation of resources across a range of Departments and agencies.

The revised NAPS aimed to build on the structures already set up under the original NAPS. The institutional structures consist of the following elements: a cabinet committee on social inclusion chaired by the Taoiseach; a senior officials group to report to the cabinet committee; a national office for social inclusion under my direction; social inclusion units in key Departments and, on a phased basis, in local authorities; a social inclusion consultative group and forum; support from the Combat Poverty Agency; and support from the National Economic and Social Forum in terms of monitoring the social inclusion elements of partnership agreements.

The implementation of this revised national anti-poverty strategy has already commenced, with the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Inclusion and Drugs and the senior officials group on social inclusion continuing to meet on a regular basis.

The process of establishing the new national office for social inclusion, which will take over the functions of the NAPS unit in my Department, is well advanced and a director of the office will be appointed in the coming weeks.

A technical advisory group, representative of relevant Departments and agencies is being established to assist in the development and implementation of the NAPS, and in particular in relation to the development and delivery of a NAPS data strategy. It is intended to hold the inaugural meeting of this group in November.

It is envisaged that the National Economic and Social Forum will convene its first annual social inclusion forum early in the new year. Preparations for this forum have already begun. It will report progress on the revised NAPS to individual members and representatives of the community and voluntary and other sectors and will enable them to contribute to the process of informing the second national action plan against poverty and social exclusion required at EU level. This plan, which will be harmonised with the revised national anti-poverty strategy, is due to be submitted in summer 2003 and will run until 2005.

In terms of the rollout of the NAPS to local government level, a pilot project of local authority social inclusion units set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, is ongoing. There are currently nine local authorities participating in this programme. The units work internally in local authorities to develop understanding of how local authority operations impact upon poverty andvice versa.