Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 July 2014
66. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the actions she will take to address the increasing poverty levels here; if she will commit to protecting the universal payment of child benefit at its current levels; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31162/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question relates to the fact that the most recent statistics on levels of poverty and income distribution in Ireland are two years old. I want to ascertain the progress made by the Government in dealing with these matters in the past two years.
The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €19.6 billion on income support payments in 2014. Core weekly payment rates have been fully maintained over the past three years in line with the programme for Government. Child benefit is paid for almost 1.2 million children in over 600,000 families, with an estimated expenditure of €1.9 billion in 2014. Income support payments play a major role in reducing poverty. CSO data show that in 2012, income supports and other social transfers reduced the at risk of poverty rate from 50.3% to 16.5%, thereby lifting one third of the population out of relative poverty. This represents a poverty reduction effect of 67.2%. Ireland is among the best performing EU countries in reducing poverty through social transfers.
Child benefit assists all parents with the costs associated with raising children and is a key component of income support for children at risk of poverty. Child benefit is complemented by targeted payments such as qualified child increases at just under €30 per week per child, back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance and family income supplement to support low income families.
The Statement of Government Priorities 2014–2016, which we announced last Friday, contains a commitment to introduce measures in budget 2015 to assist low-income families by improving the system of child income supports, particularly for families in which one or both parents are moving from welfare to work. This will be informed by the work of the advisory group on tax and social welfare.
We know that social welfare will always work to reduce poverty. If we did not have social welfare, we would obviously have much more poverty. Regrettably, however, the latest statistics on the incidence of poverty and income distribution are two years old. I do not blame the Minister specifically for this situation but it should be addressed by the Government. We are in the unusual position whereby I can get up-to-date CSO figures on the number of cows in County Limerick but I do not know the incidence of poverty in that county for 2014.
The figures from 2012 revealed that one in six people was living below the internationally accepted poverty line. The poverty line had decreased because of the economic downturn in the preceding years. One in six of the population equates to 750,000 people. The 2012 figures also showed that the deprivation rate, whereby people go without at least two of the 11 basic necessities, was 26.9%, which equates to a staggering 1.2 million people. Is the Minister confident that the statistics for 2014 will show an improvement in that situation?
As the Deputy is aware, preparation of statistics in this area is a matter for the CSO. I would welcome the provision of statistics on a more timely basis.
The EU is currently publishing the statistics on income and living conditions, SILC, for Europe and Ireland compares very favourably, principally because we have a level of social transfers which we maintained during the depression. The poverty reduction effects of social protection payments in Ireland are among the highest in the European Union. The best route from poverty or being at risk of poverty is to find employment. Over a period I have emphasised family income supplement, expanded the programme and made it easier to apply for when parents with children are returning to work. That will provide significant support for parents returning to work.
The best obvious route from poverty is to find a job but the Minister may find it surprising that 16% of the people ascertained as living below the poverty line have a job. There is a specific commitment on page 22 of the programme for Government to combat and reduce incidence of poverty. In the Government's national reform programme for 2012, the target for Ireland was that consistent poverty would be reduced to 4% by 2016 and 2% by 2020. The figure in 2012 was 7.7%, so how confident is the Minister that we will achieve the target?
The national social target for poverty reduction is to achieve 4% by 2016 and 2% or less by 2020. A diverse range of actions in support of the target are set out in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, with annual updates in the national reform programme under the Europe 2020 strategy. We have also recently adopted a child-specific poverty sub-target in the policy framework for children and young people, which is to reduce the number of children in consistent poverty by 70,000 by 2020, which is a reduction of two thirds on 2011.
The Deputy may be aware the Government's proposals published last Friday referred to people in work on very low wages. We have committed to the establishment of a low pay commission, as there are a number of issues. The minimum wage, at €8.65 per hour, is relatively good but if a person only has ten hours of work per week, he or she will rely on social welfare for the balance of income. We have put significant extra resources into family income supplement to assist families in low income at work with children. We will continue to extend initiatives in that area to support families.
