Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 96 and 121 together.

As Deputies will be aware, the Government's decision to integrate the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office for Social Inclusion within my Department was informed by the findings of a review of the Combat Poverty Agency, which was undertaken on foot of a Government decision of 6 June 2007. As the Combat Poverty Agency is established under statute, legislative changes will be required to alter its status. I intend to bring proposals in this regard to the Government in advance of Committee Stage of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008. I do not intend to absorb the Combat Poverty Agency into the Office for Social Inclusion in its existing form. A new strengthened division, which will make the best use of the considerable experience and expertise of the staff of both existing bodies, will be created. The new organisation, which will seek to address the weaknesses in both bodies which were identified in the review, will provide a stronger voice for those affected by poverty and social inclusion issues. An implementation plan has been formulated to provide for the smooth integration of the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office for Social Inclusion over the coming months. The detail of the plan will be developed with the expert input of the staff of the agency and the office. It will take account of the findings of the review, particularly relating to the potential of the integrated division to strengthen the performance of both bodies in the areas of research and data.

I am conscious of the concerns about the need for independent scrutiny of public policy that have been expressed by some interest groups. I agree that independent critique is important. This measure is not intended to reduce the scope for such work. As the review report notes, the function of independent reporting on poverty does not depend on the Combat Poverty Agency as much as it did in previous years. This is due to the emergence of other independent data sources such as the statistics on poverty reported by the Central Statistics Office and the independent analysis provided by bodies like the Economic and Social Research Institute, the National Economic and Social Council in Ireland, the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development overseas. Ireland is well served by the social partners and a wide range of non-governmental organisations and other groups which have a strong voice in the public debate on poverty and related issues. I intend to ask the new division to prioritise the development of procedures to ensure the views of these and other stakeholders, including people experiencing poverty, continue to be available to the Government as it develops and monitors social inclusion strategies.

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