Ms Roshin Sen:

As noted in the briefing, the National Implementation Plan for the Sustainable Development Goals 2022-2024 was published on www.gov.ie in October 2022. A policy map was also published that sets out which Department leads on the delivery of each of the 169 targets. The Department of Social Protection is identified as the lead Department in relation to five specific targets under three separate goals. I propose to provide a brief update on progress on the implementation of each of these five targets.

Under goal 1, which relates to poverty, the Department leads on targets 1.2 and 1.3. The official source of poverty statistics in Ireland is the survey on income and living conditions, SILC. The 2022 survey results were released just last week. Target 1.2 relates to reducing poverty as nationally defined. In Ireland, the national social target for poverty reduction is to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less. Consistent poverty is a measure that combines those who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing material deprivation. In the 2020 survey, the rate of consistent poverty was 4.7%. This reduced to 4% in the 2021 survey and increased to 5.3% in the 2022 survey. While it is disappointing to see this increase in the consistent poverty rate, as it had been steadily declining since it peaked at 9% in the 2013 survey, some caution must be exercised in interpreting the figure as it is based on 2021 income, a period when the Covid pandemic had a significant impact on incomes. In addition, the impact of budget 2022 and budget 2023 measures are not reflected in the income data. The full impact of the pandemic will not wash through the SILC data until the 2024 survey.

Target 1.3 relates to implementing social protection systems with substantial coverage of the poor and vulnerable. Ireland continues to have one of the most effective systems of social transfers in the EU for poverty prevention. In the 2022 survey, the at risk of poverty rate before social transfers would have been 36.5%. After social transfers, it was 13.1%, which is a poverty reduction impact of 64%. It is important to note that the proportion of the population at risk of poverty in the 2020 survey, which is based on pre-pandemic 2019 incomes, was 13.2%. Accordingly, the at risk of poverty rate was broadly the same in 2021 as in 2019, despite the significant adverse impacts of the pandemic and the consequent large-scale disruptions to businesses and employment.

Under goal 10, the Department is responsible for target 10.1, which is to increase the incomes of the bottom 40% of the population at a higher rate than the national average. In this regard, looking at the SILC data and as outlined in the briefing, there has been progress on this target. The average weekly equivalised income at the fourth decile increased by 8.8% from the 2020 survey to 2022, which is higher than the national increase of 7.9% for the same period.

Shifting focus to goal 8, which relates to employment, the Department is the lead on target 8.6, which is to substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training. There was a sharp increase in this rate in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. However, there has been a steep decline from the beginning of 2021, a trend that has continued. Ireland’s rate is now well below the European average standing at 6.8% and 8.4% at quarter 3 2022 for 15- to 24-year-olds and 15- to 29-year-olds, respectively.

The Department is also the co-lead on target 8.b on developing a youth employment strategy. Pathways to Work 2021–2025, which is the national employment services strategy, contains a number of commitments to support young people into training, education and employment, many of which have been delivered. The recent labour force survey released last week reports a youth unemployment rate of 9.1%, which is well below the pre-pandemic average of 12.5%. It is important to note that because unemployment is measured as the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the number of people active in the labour market, the unemployment rate of young people is generally about twice that of the working-age population, reflecting the high number of young people in education and, therefore, not available to work. This ratio is consistent over time and across countries.

Further information is set out in the briefing material provided to the committee earlier this week. My colleagues and I are happy to take any questions that members may have.