Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together.

This Government established the child poverty and well-being programme in the Department of the Taoiseach to make sure we prioritise children, and particularly vulnerable children, and to make sure they get a real chance to realise their potential. From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Well-being 2023-2025 was published last year. It is the initial programme plan for the child poverty and well-being programme office in my Department. The programme plan does not address everything but rather takes a focused approached on six key areas that have the potential to bring about significant change for children and their families. These include income supports and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating public health, family and parental assistance, and well-being services; and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty.

The role of the Department of the Taoiseach is to co-ordinate and focus Government action. To help facilitate this, the office has established a cross-government network on child poverty and well-being. Three network meetings have taken place to date. The purpose of the cross-government network is to bring together the very wide range of actors across Departments, their agencies and local authorities who are responsible for implementing actions and policies which impact on the objective to end child poverty and enhance child well-being. The network creates a platform to support this diverse work and identify shared purpose and mission and meets three to four times per year. Information about the network and its meetings is published on gov.ie.

On 27 February, the third meeting of the network addressed the theme: achieving a continuum of care: exploring effective strategies for enhancing service integration. The objective of the discussion was to support policymakers and service providers to share learning and think creatively about the challenges and benefits of integrated services. Integrated services is one of the key focus areas of the programme office. The overall ambition for integrated services is to identify and create pathways for children and families to smoothly access the services they need.

A keynote address exploring effective strategies for enhancing service integration was delivered by Dr. Carmel Devaney, associate director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at the University of Galway, and a practice panel looked at the evidence, legitimacy and feasibility of service integration in practice. Panel members were from a wide range of organisations, including representatives from Meitheal, a family resource centre, and a children and young persons' services committee.

Reflections from this cross-government network meeting and the inaugural child poverty and well-being summit, which I attended, inform the ongoing work of the programme office. I believe we can absolutely transform the lives of children and their families, and we must give every child the best possible start in life. Achieving this is not just the right thing to do for children but it is also essential for protecting social cohesion, empowering vibrant communities and securing our long-term economic future.

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