Written answers

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Department of Social Protection

Anti-Poverty Strategy

5:00 pm

Photo of Séamus HealySéamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the actions she will take to tackle child poverty here in view of the fact that 19% of children are at risk of poverty, 9% live in consistent poverty and that 185,000 children live in households in which the family income is less than 60% of the national median income per adult; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8296/12]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Plans to tackle child poverty are outlined in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPSincl) and in the Programme for Government. The Government is committed to achieving the targets in the NAPsincl to reduce the number of people experiencing poverty. These targets are currently being reviewed to ensure that they continue to be appropriate and achievable. Consistent poverty and at-risk-of poverty rates for 2009 and 2010 are statistically the same. The EU at-risk-of poverty rate for children was 20.5 per cent in 2010 (EU27), up from 19.9 in 2009. Ireland's child poverty rate is slightly less than the European average at 18 per cent. The EU rate for Ireland and the national rate vary slightly because of methodological differences. The highest rates of poverty are in jobless households and households that have limited engagement with the labour market. These groups include lone parent families, unemployed people with disabilities and unemployed families. Children in jobless households are three times more likely to experience consistent poverty than children generally.

Therefore, a multidimensional approach to tackling child poverty is needed to take into account income supports, services and parental access to employment. The overriding objective for the Government is to increase employment, build real and sustainable economic growth and to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society. The Programme for Government sets out the framework to achieve these aims. Employment opportunities will be increased through labour market activation, skills training and education measures. New initiatives such as Pathways to Work will also facilitate especially those who have been long-term unemployed to re-enter the labour market. Given the scale of the fiscal crisis and because spending on social protection accounts for nearly 40 per cent of current Government expenditure, savings have to be found in the social welfare system. In Budget 2012, the Government has endeavoured insofar as it could to limit cuts in social welfare to households where there is some additional income over and above the basic social welfare payment and in that regard, avoided any general reduction in primary weekly welfare payments. The standardisation of child benefit rates announced in Budget 2012 is an important component of introducing a more appropriate system of child income supports. While it is recognised that this measure will have implications for some families, the payments that provide additional support to families on low incomes, such as child related increases to social welfare payments and the family income supplement, remain unchanged.

The poverty reduction effect after social transfers also demonstrates that the social protection system is protecting those at-risk-of-poverty. In 2010, social transfers (excluding pensions) reduced the at-risk-of-poverty rate by 60 per cent. From 2004 to 2009 (most recent data for children), the poverty reduction effect of social transfers for children's at-risk-of-poverty rate increased from 43 per cent to 60 per cent. This reflects concerted State intervention and investment in the social protection system during this period.

This Department works closely with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) in relation to these issues. The development of the Children and Young People's Policy Framework, 2012 -2017, as the overarching framework under which policy and services for children and young people will be developed and implemented in the State, is an important initiative for cross-departmental collaboration to secure this objective. Early childhood care and education programmes, in particular those that are aimed at low income families, are priorities in the DCYA to enhance children's opportunities for social and educational development and to support parents undertaking training and participating in employment. The network of 107 family resource centres that are funded by the Family Support Agency, under the remit of the DCYA, also have an important role in this regard. These programmes and the results of three Dublin-based pilot projects to enhance children's development which are jointly funded by the DCYA with a philanthropic organisation, will inform the Government's plans to develop a new area based approach to child poverty.

Finally, I understand that my colleague, Frances Fitzgerald T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, plans to enhance the role of early intervention and support programmes for the most vulnerable children and their families in the context of the new Child and Family Support Agency.

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