Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and welcome the opportunity to meet the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on the progression of the sustainable development goals. As the committee knows, in Ireland a whole-of-government approach is taken to the implementation of these goals. My Department has done a considerable amount of work towards their attainment, particularly in the areas of poverty, reducing inequality and achieving gender equality, decent work and economic growth. I will briefly outline some of the progress made in recent years by my Department.

One of the most important ways to address child poverty is through the provision of affordable and quality early childhood care and education. The benefits of high-quality early learning and childcare are widely acknowledged, with immediate and long-lasting outcomes. It provides opportunities for children to play and interact with their peers, and promotes children’s overall well-being and good physical and mental health. It also allows parents to participate in training and employment in the knowledge that their children are safe, happy and well cared for. Labour force participation, in turn, increases family income and reduces the risk of poverty. Participation in early learning and childcare benefits all children, but has the greatest benefit for children living in poverty and is a critical intervention in breaking cycles of intergenerational exclusion and deprivation. Through increased funding in budgets 2023 and 2024, there will be improved affordability for parents, improved availability of early learning and childcare places and additional supports for children with a disability and-or experiencing disadvantage.

Another important way in which my Department addresses child poverty is through investment in youth services for disadvantaged young people to build their personal and social capacity. The UBU Your Place Your Space scheme is aimed at providing out-of-school supports to marginalised, disadvantaged or vulnerable young people to enable them to achieve their full potential. The scheme focuses on developing the emotional intelligence, communication skills, confidence, planning and problem solving, creativity and imagination, relationships, resilience and determination of disadvantaged young people. Evidence shows that approaches that focus on building social and emotional capabilities can have very long-term impacts on young people’s well-being and development.

More directly, my Department also supports young people as key actors in addressing sustainable development goals through supporting impactful youth climate justice projects in the youth sector. My Department is looking at ways to further embed the sustainable development goals in youth service provision in the context of our forthcoming new national strategy on youth work and related services.

My Department also supports children, parents and families through parenting support programmes and family support services. The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 was enacted on 4 April 2023, and introduces important entitlements for workers, including leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, five days of paid domestic violence leave, the right to request flexible working arrangements for parents and carers and the right to request remote working for all employees.

Reporting under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 began in 2022 for employers with over 250 employees and will extend in 2024 to those with over 150 employees and, in 2025, to those with over 50 employees. My Department is developing a centralised database for organisations to upload information on their gender pay gaps. Gender equality has been promoted and advanced in Ireland under a whole-of-government policy framework provided by the national strategy for women and girls, which was extended, due to Covid-19, for a further year to the end of 2021. Work has now begun on a consultation exercise to inform the development of the successor strategy to the national strategy-----