Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 449: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her detailed plans in relation to the future of the Combat Poverty Agency. [39948/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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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 on the 6th of 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 Government in the coming weeks.

It is not my intention that Combat Poverty will simply be absorbed into the Office for Social Inclusion in its existing form. Rather a new strengthened division will be created which will make the best use of the considerable experience and expertise of the staff of both existing bodies and will seek to address the weaknesses identified by the Review in relation to both. I believe that this new division 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 for Social Inclusion.

It will take account of the findings of the review, in particular in relation 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 absolutely agree that independent critique is very important and this move is in no way intended to reduce the scope for such work.

As the review report notes, the function of independent reporting on poverty is no longer as dependent on Combat Poverty as it was in earlier years. This is due for example to the emergence of other independent data sources such as the statistics on poverty reported by the CSO, and independent analysis by bodies such as the ESRI and NESC and on the international front by the EU and OECD. And of course, Ireland is well-served by the social partners and a wide range of NGOs and other groups who have a strong voice in public debate about poverty and related issues.

I intend to ask the new division to prioritise the development of procedures to ensure that the views of these and other stakeholders, including people experiencing poverty, continue to be available to Government in developing and monitoring social inclusion strategies.