Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to address the adequacy of social protection rates given that a recent report by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice which found that in 2016 social protection did not provide an adequate income for 183 of the 214 urban household cases examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18692/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the recent publication of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice’s (VPSJ) report on the 2016 update of the expenditure and income required for a minimum essential standard of living.

After a series of challenging years, improvements for people in receipt of social welfare payments began in Budget 2015 and continued in Budget 2016. These improvements are reflected in the VPSJ report in that households with pre-school children moved into income adequacy (as defined in the report) as a result of increases in child benefit and the introduction of free GP care for children under the age of six. In addition, the increase in the weekly rate of payment for pensioners aged 66 and over moved pensioners living alone in receipt of the State pension contributory into income adequacy while pensioner couples on welfare payments have, per the research, levels of income in excess of the minimum standard for many years.

The analysis in the VPSJ report is a valuable contribution to our future consideration of appropriate levels of income supports and services. I note the importance of better services such a free GP care for younger children outlined in the report.

Analysis in the Social Inclusion Monitor, 2014, published by my Department shows the crucial role that Ireland’s social protection system plays in alleviating poverty, cushioning people from the worst effects of unemployment and ensuring an adequate standard of living.

Using Eurostat data for 2014, social transfers (excluding pensions) reduced the at-risk-of-poverty rate in Ireland from 37.2% to 15.6%, thereby lifting over a fifth of the population out of income poverty. Ireland is the best performing EU member state in reducing poverty through social transfers. The poverty reduction effect at 58.9% is the highest in Europe, almost twice the EU average.

The latest poverty data are for 2014 and do not fully reflect the impact of the recovery in economic growth and employment. The unemployment rate in 2014 was 11.3%, down from a peak of 15% in 2012. Since then, the unemployment rate has fallen further, to 7.8% in May 2016. As unemployment is strongly linked to poverty, we can expect to see further decreases in basic deprivation and consistent poverty.

The Pathways to Work Strategy 2016-2020 sets out comprehensive plans to increase labour market participation and make work pay. It continues to prioritise the activation of the long-term and young unemployed people, with supports provided through the network of Intreo offices.

A range of welfare and income tax measures were introduced in Budget 2016 to further incentivise work and improve living standards. The social impact assessment of the Budget shows greater rewards for working, with over 80% of the unemployed substantially better-off in work.

Looking ahead, the new Programme for a Partnership Government contains a number of significant commitments to enhance the welfare system in the years ahead. This includes increasing rent supplement limits by up to 15% and I note the impact of housing costs included in the VPSJ report. I hope to announce changes to the rent supplement scheme operated by my Department very shortly.

I want to make progress on the welfare commitments contained in the Programme for Government in the forthcoming Budget and will seek to do this within the additional resources which will be available.

I also look forward to engagement and input from my colleagues in the Oireachtas in the matter. In addition, I will be holding a Pre-Budget forum on July 22 next to which I have invited forty welfare representative organisations. I will listen carefully to the views of the organisations attending which will include the VPSJ.