Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, together.

The child poverty and well-being programme office was established in the Department of the Taoiseach in spring 2023. Its purpose is to prioritise action across government in areas that will have the greatest impact for children and families experiencing poverty.

From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Poverty and Well-being 2023-2025 was published in August last year and is the initial programme plan for the child poverty and well-being programme office. The programme builds on six focus areas which have the potential to bring about significant change for families and children. These are income assistance and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating family and parental assistance, health and well-being; and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty. The role of my Department 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. The network has met four times to date, with the most recent meeting taking place last week.

On 23 May last, the programme office hosted the inaugural child poverty and well-being summit in Dublin Castle. This was a pivotal moment to take stock of progress and shape the agenda for future action on child poverty. A summary report on the summit is complete. I brought it to the Government last week and it has been published and is available online. The programme office is currently preparing its first annual report on progress achieved over the past 12 months and I expect the report to be published soon.

A key function of the programme office is to co-ordinate spending plans on child poverty and well-being for the annual budget. In budget 2025, we reaffirmed our commitment to reducing child poverty and improving child well-being. Budget measures which will alleviate child poverty include an increase in the weekly rates of child support payments by €4 for children aged under 12 and €8 for children aged over 12, bringing them to €50 per week and €62 per week, respectively. This is the largest ever increase applied to this payment. It was identified to me by the people working in the child poverty office and by engagement I had with a number of organisations as one of the most practical measures we could take to help to alleviate child poverty.

We will also provide a €400 lump sum for working family payment recipients, which is another payment that helps to alleviate child poverty; an increase of €60 in the working family payment income thresholds for all family sizes from January 2025; the school meals holiday hunger pilot project in summer 2025 and another pilot focused on holiday hunger in youth services; and the expansion of the Equal Start programme. Equal Start is important as it effectively recognises educational disadvantage in preschool education. It did not exist a year ago and we have now put more money into it to include enhanced nutritional supports, as well as funding for parent and community co-ordinators. Ten new youth services will also be targeted at those who are disadvantaged.

Additionally, children living in poverty will also benefit from universal supports, including the double child benefit payments in November and December; free public transport for children aged between five and eight years; hot school meals extended to all primary schools; schoolbooks for senior students in the free school scheme; and a waiver of the State examinations fee for the junior and leaving certificate for another year.

The programme office is compiling a full analysis of how these initiatives will have an impact on child poverty and enhance child well-being in 2025. This will be published in the coming weeks.

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