Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 271: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans in relation to the proposal by the European Commission that the EU should set a target of reducing poverty by 25% by 2020; and if he will ensure that Ireland actively promotes and advocates the acceptance of this target. [17031/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The European Council at its meeting in March 2010 agreed on the inclusion of five headline targets in Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The targets constitute shared objectives guiding the action of the member states and the union on the key areas where action is needed: knowledge and innovation, a more sustainable economy, high employment and social inclusion. The EU poverty targets will be translated into national targets to take account of the differing starting points of member states.

One of the targets is promoting social inclusion, in particular through the reduction of poverty. The purpose of the target is to measure progress in reducing poverty and in ensuring that the benefits of growth and jobs are shared. The Commission proposed a target of reducing poverty in Europe by 25 per cent or 20 million people using the at-risk-of-poverty indicator. The European Council decided that further work is needed on appropriate indicators and will revert to this issue at its June 2010 meeting.

The Irish Government supports the decision to include a poverty target in the European strategy for 2020, but has expressed methodological reservations about the sole use of the 'at-risk-of-poverty' indicator. Since 1997, the Irish Government has adopted poverty targets as part of its national policy against poverty and for social inclusion. The Irish target is based on a composite poverty measure called 'consistent poverty'. The measure identifies the percentage of the population which is both below 60 per cent of median income (known as 'at-risk-of-poverty') and experiencing material deprivation (the enforced lack of two or more basic necessities).

The government target in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 is to further reduce consistent poverty to between 2-4 per cent by 2012 and to eliminate it by 2016. The latest results from the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), released in November 2009, which applied to 2008, indicated at that stage that the reductions in poverty were on track to achieve both the 2012 and 2016 targets. It showed that the rate of consistent poverty in the population in 2008 was 4.2 per cent, down from 5.1 per cent in 2007 and 6.5 per cent in 2006.

The EU Social Protection Committee though an expert sub-group is examining the appropriate indicators for an EU poverty target and will make a recommendation to the EPSCO Council on 7/8 June. Officials of the Department are actively participating in these deliberations. The committee's recommendations for appropriate indicators for a poverty target will be considered at the relevant European Council meetings in June.