Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2016
29. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection when his Department will publish the Millar report on the situation of lone parents; his views on reported leaks of the report which indicate that the report finds that cuts have made lone parents worse off and that this has contributed to child poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28791/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to clarify that the Millar report was not directly commissioned by my Department. It was, rather supported by a research grant arrangement from my Department under the Government of Ireland Research Project Grants Scheme, which is administered by the Irish Research Council (IRC). Under this Scheme my Department supports small-scale research projects, or week long academic summer schools, under a programme of research innovation awards known as the Department of Social Protection Research Innovation Awards (DSPRIA).
Awards under this programme are confined to academics and researchers in third level institutions, with applications for awards assessed by an independent board of the IRC. In September 2014 the IRC issued a DSPRIA call for proposals under the theme “An Active Inclusion Approach to Lone Parents”. The successful applicant, selected by the IRC in November 2014, was Dr. Michelle Millar of NUI Galway for her proposed study “Lone Parents and Activation, What Works and Why: A Review of the International Evidence in the Irish Context”.
The manner and timing of publication of a study report in these circumstances are matters for the researchers. I understand that the report was published on 29th September by the authors in accordance with normal arrangements that apply to such grant-aided studies administered by IRC.
I wish to acknowledge the amount of time and effort Dr Millar and her team undertook in completing this study.
The report will be helpful to my Department to see what can be learned from other countries about the active inclusion approach and where best practice lies. The report does not purport to be an analysis of the lone parent reforms. The qualitative interviews in the report will add to our knowledge but the sample size is small and the period of implementation of the reforms is very short. It is too soon to draw definitive conclusions about the outcome of these reforms.
The report references CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) data on child poverty figures for 2013, which state that 11.7% of children were in consistent poverty. However, the most recent SILC data for 2014 shows that there has been a slight decrease in this figure to 11.2%. Furthermore the consistent poverty rate of lone parents has decreased from 23% in 2013 to 22.1% in 2014.
The full impact of the recovery is not yet reflected in these figures. Ireland has returned to strong economic and employment growth. The unemployment rate in April 2016 was 8.4%, down from a peak of 15% in 2012. As unemployment is strongly linked to poverty, we can expect further decreases in poverty as the figures for 2015 and 2016 become available.
