Ms Fiona Bourke:

I am grateful for the opportunity to address the committee on the well-being framework for Ireland, which is the result of a programme for Government commitment to develop a set of indicators to create a broader context for policy-making and to utilise these in a systematic way across government at local and national levels in setting budgetary priorities, evaluating programmes and reporting progress. The framework was developed over two phases of consultation. The first phase was a stakeholder and expert consultation led by the National Economic and Social Council which consulted with approximately 450 stakeholders and experts. The second phase of consultation involved a wider group of stakeholders, including the broader public. This phase also included a seminar organised by the Parliamentary Budget Office. The resulting framework, approved by Government and launched in 2021, is modelled on the OECD approach and is made up of 11 dimensions covering different aspects of well-being, with a cross-cutting focus on equality and sustainability. The vision of the initiative is to "enable all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future".

The framework is led by the Department of the Taoiseach, with the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform as co-sponsors. The CSO supported the identification of the indicators and hosts these on its Well-being Information Hub. The framework is a cross-government initiative, supported by an interdepartmental group, and some of the implementation work that we will outline today is being driven by other Departments and agencies.

Regarding implementation, the framework is supported by a dashboard of 35 indicators, hosted by the CSO, which brings together economic, social and environmental statistics. Fifteen of these indicators have been identified as particularly important for sustainable well-being - environmental, social and economic. Each year, the Understanding Life in Ireland report is approved by Government, published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It assesses Ireland’s well-being performance across these 35 indicators.

This year’s assessment was published on 31 July and we have circulated a copy to the members of the committee. The analysis shows that Ireland’s overall performance is positive, in particular in the areas of work and job quality, and our social connections and community. Only one of the 11 dimensions, the environment, climate and biodiversity dimension, shows a negative performance. Of the 15 sustainability indicators, seven perform positively over time. Ireland compares favourably with other countries in respect of four of the indicators. The report also highlights that progress is unequal for some groups, including people with long-term illness or disability, single-parent households, households in receipt of lower incomes and households in rented accommodation.

While every effort has been made to include data that represents the topics raised in the development of the framework, we acknowledge that, due to data availability, there are areas that are not represented in the indicator set. We continue to work with the CSO to identify where data could be improved.

The framework and analysis are integrated into the budgetary process to help inform discussions and decision-making. It features annually at the national economic dialogue, in the summer economic statement, in budget day documentation and as part of expenditure reporting.

The Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform has undertaken a tagging initiative that uses the dimensions of the well-being framework. This will help Government’s understanding of expenditure allocations, inform prioritisation considerations and enhance transparency. The results of this process are published around the time of the budget and the Revised Estimates Volume. Other Departments are progressing work to implement the approach into policy development and decision-making, using sectoral approaches aligned to the well-being framework to improve performance measurement, support policy analysis, and better understand Government’s impact on quality of life in Ireland.

Regarding international co-operation, other countries have developed their own approaches to integrating multidimensional sustainable well-being into policy-making. As a founding member of the OECD Knowledge Exchange Platform on Well-being Policy and Practice, we are learning from other countries which are working on similar initiatives, as well as sharing Ireland’s experience to date. Ireland’s approach is still relatively new compared with other countries, but it is seen as a leader in terms of the speed of integration into the Government system thus far.

On next steps, the Government has committed to a formal review of the framework in 2026, allowing time for the initial dashboard to be used and tested. The degree to which the framework has been integrated into the government system to date has been encouraging but we recognise that this is an iterative process. We will continue to progress initiatives to further embed the framework across the system, thus ensuring it has an impact on policy-makers, and ultimately citizens.

I thank the committee for its time today and for the opportunity to give an overview of this work. We look forward to any questions.