Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2018
575. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the role her Department has in outlining progress on social inclusion under the National Reform Programme 2017. [17684/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is responsible for the management and monitoring of the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPinclusion) and the update which covers the period 2015-2017. The Plan identifies a wide range of targeted actions and interventions to achieve the overall objective of reducing consistent poverty.
The headline target, Ireland’s National Social Target for Poverty Reduction (NSTPR) is to reduce the number of people in consistent poverty to 4% by 2016 (interim target) and to 2% or less by 2020, from the 2010 baseline rate of 6.3%. In addition, the Irish contribution to the Europe 2020 poverty target is to reduce by a minimum of 200,000 the population in 'combined poverty' (i.e. consistent poverty, at-risk-of-poverty or basic deprivation) between 2010 and 2020. My Department is currently reviewing NAPinclusion, with a view to developing an updated plan for future periods. As part of this update, my Department is also reviewing the national social target for poverty reduction. This review is being undertaken in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Under NAPinclusion, my Department engages in a number of activities to monitor progress on social inclusion and poverty reduction. These include ongoing monitoring through the biennial Social Inclusion Report and the annual Social Inclusion Monitor, and engagement in stakeholder consultation with the community and voluntary sector and people experiencing poverty and social exclusion at the annual Social Inclusion Forum.
Data from the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), which forms the basis for reporting in the Social Inclusion Monitor, indicate that consistent poverty rose sharply after 2010, to a peak of 9.1% in 2013. The latest SILC 2016 data, released by the CSO in December 2017, indicate that this had reduced to 8.3%. A reduction of 6 percentage points would therefore now be required to meet the 2020 poverty target. The rate of combined poverty fell from 33.7% in 2015 (and from a peak of 38% in 2013) to 29.2% in 2016.
The National Reform Programme (NRP) forms part of Ireland’s involvement in the European Semester process. It reports on a wide range of targeted policies and strategies in place to address the main challenges and imbalances Ireland faces including those identified in the annual Country Report published by the European Commission and Ireland’s country specific recommendations (covering public finances; public investment and labour market participation; and sustainable resolution of non-performing loans). The NRP also reports on progress towards meeting the targets for poverty reduction. This reporting draws on the ongoing monitoring activities for NAPinclusion described above.
