Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tackling poverty remains a fundamental aspiration of all of Irish society. In particular, A Programme for a Partnership Government includes a firm commitment to develop a new integrated framework for social inclusion to tackle the inequality and poverty that, unfortunately, still exist in society. This will be a successor to the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 and its 2015 to 2017 update, which concluded last year.

My Department is developing the new four-year plan for the period from 2018 to 2021. Like its predecessor, the plan will have a whole-of-Government approach that aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable and marginalised people while recognising a shared responsibility across Government to implement actions to achieve the overall objectives. The theme of the new plan is one of active inclusion, which will enable every citizen, most notably, I hope, the disadvantaged, to participate fully in society. This includes having a job.

The primary focus will be the reduction of consistent poverty, which was 8.3% in 2016, a figure none of us is happy about. This will be achieved through a three-pronged approach: supporting incomes through a level of employment that is as high as possible and encouraging and assisting people to enter the workforce; setting targets for the level of relevant welfare payments designed to reduce relative poverty among those who cannot work or cannot find work; and improving access to quality services such as health, education, childcare, training, housing and community supports to minimise deprivation for all groups, in particular those who are on relatively low incomes. Officials in my Department are working with their colleagues, both internally and in other Departments, to identify specific actions for inclusion in the plan.

As a Department, we place a high value on our engagement with those who need to access our services and with the range of organisations that represent those experiencing poverty and social exclusion. Consultation regarding the development of the new plan began last year with the 2017 social inclusion forum where the new plan was the main topic of discussion. This was followed by an online public consultation process in February and March 2018 and further discussions that were very robust at the 2018 social inclusion forum. This allowed my Department to gather responses from individuals who have real-life experience of poverty and social exclusion as well as from NGOs and those working in the community and voluntary sector and academia, which will inform the development of the plan.

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