Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the research his Department has undertaken into rural poverty; his views on introducing new initiatives to combat rural poverty in particular regarding the elderly and women; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31834/06]

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the efforts his Department is making to combat rural poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31820/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 134 and 198 together.

Tackling rural poverty is a key objective of this government with initiatives being undertaken across many departments. My colleague the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has primary responsibility in this area and his department, together with the Department of Agriculture and Food, is currently preparing a major rural development strategy covering the years 2007-2013. This strategy will have a significant impact in rural areas.

In addition, the National Action Plan against Poverty and Social Exclusion (NAP inclusion) details a range of measures, across several policy areas, to tackle rural poverty. These include: the Rural Transport Initiative which will be placed on a permanent footing in 2007 following the successful piloting of the project; the CLAR programme, which is a nationally funded investment programme aimed at areas which have experienced more that a 50 per cent drop in population since the foundation of the state; and the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme. The agreement of social inclusion development plans within the local authorities will also constitute valuable tools for identifying and tackling social exclusion and poverty at a local level.

A revised National Action Plan is currently in preparation, coordinated by the Office for Social Inclusion (OSI), based in my Department. It is due for completion by end of year. Full account is being taken of the views expressed at consultation seminars in relation to what the plan should contain. These consultations highlighted the importance of the Plan having a strong regional and local focus given the differences that exist between the needs of the different regions and localities. A key aim, therefore, will be to ensure that a strong regional and local focus will be accommodated in the plan.

My Department makes a number of social welfare payments to assist rural communities. Farm Assist is a weekly means-tested payment for low income farmers, payable up to a maximum rate of €165.80 per week personal rate with increases of up to €110 per week for a qualified adult and €16.80 per week for each qualified child. Expenditure on Farm Assist was €67.2m in 2005 and there are currently some 7,531 households benefiting from the payment on a weekly basis. In addition to the weekly state pension my department also pays a special additional weekly payment of €12.70 for persons over 66 years of age living on certain offshore islands.

An additional weekly payment of €7.70 is made to pensioners who are living alone and an additional €10 per week for persons over 80 years old.

My Department is also cooperating with the Combat Poverty Agency, Sustainable Energy Ireland and other organisations in an action research project to improve energy efficiency in selected older dwellings and to monitor the outcomes in terms of improved cost efficiency and household comfort and health levels. A total of 300 houses are involved in this project. The project is comprised of urban houses in the Cork area and rural houses in Donegal. In addition to this, Budget 2006 provided a grant of EUR2 million to Sustainable Energy Ireland to enable further research to be undertaken into fuel poverty issues.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the efforts his Department is making to reduce poverty levels of older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31851/06]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way he will reduce the high rate of poverty for women over 65; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31822/06]

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 188: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to claims made at the recent Tackling Poverty and Health Inequalities conference that Ireland has the second highest rate of poverty among older people; his views on this finding; the steps he intends to take to address the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31727/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 149 and 188 together.

The measure of poverty used for the national social inclusion processes in Ireland is consistent poverty, which combines relative income poverty with deprivation measures. In order to be 'consistently poor', a person needs to fall below an income line and be unable to afford one of 8 basic deprivation items.

While the risk of poverty results for older people are higher than for the general population (40% compared to 21% based on the EU common indicators), consistent poverty results for people aged 65 and over are lower than the general population (3.3% compared to 6.8%, from the National EU-SILC results for 2004). Consistent poverty is considered in Ireland to be a more accurate reflection of long-term accumulation of resources than relative income measures.

EU measures of poverty risk concentrate on relative incomes. When looked at in this way, the position of pensioners compared to other groups disimproved over the past 10 years. This was despite pension increases that exceeded earnings growth and price inflation. The main reason for this apparent disimprovement was that household incomes were driven by tax reform and increased employment participation, in addition to earnings growth, and not all of these factors fed into pensioners' incomes whereas people on social welfare incomes throughout the 10-year period would in fact have benefited from substantial income improvements (at least as high as earnings growth).

Over the decade to 2004, while prices (CPI) increased by 35% and average industrial earnings increased by 63%, social welfare payments increased by 86%. However, the 'at risk of poverty' threshold increased by 122% reflecting a significant shift from one to two incomes in middle-income households. In Ireland's particular circumstances of rapid economic growth, the 'at risk of poverty' measure has not proved to be a reliable indicator of Over the decade to 2004, while prices (CPI) increased by 35% and average industrial earnings increased by 63%, social welfare payments increased by 86%. However, the 'at risk of poverty' threshold increased by 122% reflecting a significant shift from one to two incomes in middle-income households. In Ireland's particular circumstances of rapid economic growth, the 'at risk of poverty' measure has not proved to be a reliable indicator of the experience of poverty. Instead, it reflects the changes in household incomes, driven by a substantial increase in female participation in the labour market. A decrease in the 'at risk of poverty' rate from 19.7 per cent in 2003 to 19.4 per cent in 2004 was recorded by EU SILC and shows that the distorting effect of significant structural changes may well be on the ebb.

The needs of older people have been, and will remain a priority for this Government and this had been demonstrated by the numerous initiatives which have been taken in the last ten years in the area of pensions, supports for carers and household benefits. For instance, since 1996 pensions have increased by almost 104%, or nearly 50% in real terms. We are committed to achieving a target rate of €200 per week for social welfare pensions by 2007.

The question of targeted measures to improve the position of women over 65 specifically will be kept under review in the context of the forthcoming budget.