Written answers

Thursday, 13 December 2018

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Poverty

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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193. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she is satisfied the targets for the reduction of consistent child poverty are ambitious enough; the reason there is no explicit strategy to eliminate consistent child poverty within a set timeframe; the specific reason targets on reducing child poverty are unlikely to be met; the cohorts of children in poverty that have been least impacted by her strategy to date; and the way in which she is seeking to progress the target in relation to same. [52630/18]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I have a strong personal commitment to reducing child poverty. This is a key political priority for me and the Government. The Taoiseach has described tackling child poverty as a moral imperative and this is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently. Under the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014-2020), my Department and other relevant Departments, are taking a whole-of-government approach to tackling child poverty.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has the lead role in coordinating government strategies on child poverty. It also has lead responsibility for the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion and has identified child poverty as a key cross-sectoral priority to be addressed.  My officials are working closely with that Department on this important issue.

In recognition of the higher risks and life-long consequences of child poverty, the Government set a child-specific poverty target in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures to reduce consistent child poverty by at least two-thirds on 2011 levels by 2020.

When we set ourselves this target in 2014, it was a challenging ambition.  It aimed to lift 70,000 children out of poverty by 2020.  The baseline target against 2011 means that today we need to lift 102,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020.

Consistent poverty means that these children are living in households with incomes below 60% of the national average income and experience deprivation according to official Government indicators.  Consistent poverty involves a diverse cohort of children and it is an issue that we are determined to resolve.

We have made some modest progress.  From a peak of 152,000 children in consistent poverty in 2014, we have seen a 9% decrease in 2015 of 13,680 children in consistent poverty. This downward trend continued with an 11.1% rate of consistent poverty in 2016, a further reduction of 6,320 or 4.5%, with a total of 132,000 children deemed to be in a consistent poverty.  I understand that updated child poverty data (Survey on Income and Living Conditions data) for 2017 will be released by the Central Statistics  Office next Monday, 17th December.

It is clear that the target to reduce child poverty by more than 100,000 children, or two thirds of the 2011 rate, is unlikely to be met. However, there is nothing inevitable about child poverty, and there is clear evidence about what works in terms of reducing child poverty rates. Ireland’s historical approach to tackling child poverty has focused on cash transfers, and this approach has resulted in Ireland consistently ranking as one of the top performing EU countries in the poverty reduction effect of social transfers.

The paper on the Whole-of-Government Approach to Tackling Child Poverty, which was published in October 2017, outlines six key priorities including;

- Providing universal access to GP care for under 18s

- Reducing the cost of education

- Housing

- Affordable childcare

- Labour activation

- Provision of in-work benefits. 

These priority actions are being advanced by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Department of Health, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Department of Education and Skills, through the Better Outcomes, Brighter Future implementation structures. While the targets are increasingly challenging, we will continue our work across government on these priority actions to try to ensure that those most impacted by child poverty experience real and positive progress.

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