Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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432. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the target for child poverty; the likelihood of the target being reached within the set timeframe; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14752/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures), published by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in 2014, includes a target to reduce by two-thirds the number of children in consistent poverty in 2011 by 2020. Meeting this target means lifting almost 95,000 children out of poverty.

Under the BOBF Framework, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, in collaboration with my Department and other relevant Departments, is taking a whole-of-government approach to tackling child poverty, building on the lifecycle approach in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion) and informed by the European Commission Recommendation on ‘Investing in children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage’.

2015 saw the first reduction in the number of children in consistent poverty since 2008. Compared to 2014, in 2015 there was a 13,000 decrease, or approximately 9 per cent, in the number of children in consistent poverty. This downward trend continued in 2016. The full impact of the economic recovery is not yet reflected in these figures. The monthly unemployment rate in January 2018 announced by the CSO was 6.1%, down from a peak of 15% in 2012. As unemployment is strongly linked to poverty, we can expect further decreases in poverty as the figures for 2017 and 2018 become available. The Government continues to focus on activation, to help people back into the workforce.

To give some perspective and a sense of the size of the challenge Ireland faces in trying to achieve the child poverty target: at the height of the economic boom in 2008, when the consistent poverty rate for children was its lowest, there were 68,000 children in consistent poverty. So, in order to meet the target, Ireland will have to be more than twice as effective as our best ever performance to date.

Social transfers play a crucial role in alleviating poverty and inequality and Ireland is among the best in the EU for reducing poverty through social transfers. In 2016 Social transfers reduce the at-risk-of-poverty rate for children from 40.5 per cent to 18.9 per cent, a poverty reduction effect of 53.3 per cent

However, reducing child poverty is not just about income supports and welfare. Rather it is also about supporting parents to make the transition into employment and assisting families through the provision of quality affordable services in areas such as education, health and childcare.