Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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535. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the progress made to include reference in all new statements of strategy to all sustainable development goal targets for which her Department has lead responsibility as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25756/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a significant and ambitious policy agenda that concerns all Government Departments.

The first National Implementation Plan (2018-2020), set out Ireland’s strategy to achieve the SDGs both domestically and internationally. The Goals are mainstreamed in domestic policy and the governance structure reflects a whole-of-government approach. 19 Actions were included in the first National Implementation Plan.

The development of the next SDG Implementation Plan has commenced, with the intention of publication later this year. A National Progress report will be incorporated into the Plan and will assess the progress on the 19 Actions.

Action 4 of the plan set out a commitment to include reference in all new Statements of Strategy to the SDG targets for which a Department has responsibility.  My Department has lead responsibility on three SDGs and co-leads on two more.  The Department is fully committed to supporting the implementation of these SDGs and the Department's  Statement of Strategy 2020-2023 reflects this commitment.  The Department's commitment to SDGs focuses on the areas of poverty and social inclusion - specifically enhanced social welfare for the poor and vulnerable, and an emphasis on improving youth unemployment.

The Statement of Strategy  outlines our high level objectives in this regard:

- Delivery of goals set out in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion – including reduction in poverty rates and improvement in living standards.

- Focusing improvements in welfare supports for children and young families, lone parent families and people with a disability as well as supporting people into work will be prioritised as a means of reducing and alleviating poverty and inequality.

With regard to youth unemployment, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted significantly on the economy and unemployment rates.  Prior to the pandemic, seasonally adjusted youth unemployment (15-24 year olds) stood at just under 12% in December 2019.  Latest estimates, including all those in receipt of the PUP, gives a COVID-19 adjusted unemployment rate estimate of 61.8% for young people at the end of April.  The inclusion of recipients of PUP brings students into the COVID-19 Adjusted Measure of youth unemployment and therefore inflates this measure.

As Minister for Social Protection, I welcomed the Council of the European Union’s recommendation of a reinforced Youth Guarantee. Central to the reinforced programme is the extension of the widening of the youth age bracket to include young people aged 25-29. As part of activation services provided by the Department of Social Protection via Intreo, young people under 25 receive the most intensive engagement. My Department intend to extend this up to age 29, and are currently putting in place the necessary system changes for this to occur.

Under the July Jobs Stimulus, my Department, along with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, are putting in place a number of measures to support people back to employment:

- Increasing the benefit of the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy to employers who hire young people, by expanding the young person rate from under 25 to under 30 years of age

- Providing access to additional full-time and part-time education, including targeted short-term courses, with over 35,000 new education and training places for those currently unemployed. 

- Providing incentives to employers to take on more apprentices, with the provision of a grant of €3,000 to employers for each new apprentice recruited.

The Department’s new Statement of Strategy 2020-2023 is available at the following link.

https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/05b877-strategy-statements/ 

Specific references to UN SDGs  are at page 8 of the Statement of Strategy.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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536. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the specific sustainable development goal targets her Department is responsible for implementing; the progress made in implementing those targets since 26 April 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25774/21]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Overall political oversight for national implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is provided through the Cabinet, with each Minister having specific responsibility for implementing individual SDG targets related to their Ministerial functions. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has responsibility for promoting the SDGs, and for overseeing coherent implementation across Government.

The first National Implementation Plan (2018-2020), published in 2018, set out Ireland’s strategy to achieve the SDGs both domestically and internationally. An important element of this Plan is the SDG Policy Map and Matrix, which identified the lead and stakeholder Departments for each of the Goals and targets and also mapped national sectoral policies against the 17 SDGs and all 169 related targets.

The SDG Policy Map and Matrix enhances the ability of stakeholders to track Ireland’s implementation of specific SDGs  and to assess Ireland’s response to the SDGs for potential policy gaps. It also supports and enhances cross-Government engagement in implementing each of the Goals and Targets. This policy map has recently been updated and is available online at www.gov.ie.

Under the Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020, the Department of Social Protection was given lead and stakeholder responsibility for several targets, focusing on the areas of social protection, poverty and inequality, and employment activation.

Social transfers have an important role in reducing poverty and inequality. In this area, my Department has lead or stakeholder responsibility for Sustainable Development Goal targets 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 10.1 and 10.4. Budgets 2018 through 2021 have all been progressive, with a strong emphasis on supporting the most vulnerable. This includes a €10 cumulative increase in weekly social welfare rates; a €30 cumulative increase to the Working Family Payment for families of up to three children; the introduction of a upper qualified child rate for children aged 12 and over, and increasing this rate from €29.80 for all children to €38 for children under 12 and €45 for children aged 12 and over; and a 100% Christmas Bonus since December 2018. Progress in this area is also being delivered through implementation of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, for which I chair the steering group, among other Government strategies.

Currently, my Department also has lead or stakeholder responsibility for targets 4.4, 8.5, 8.6 and 8.b, which focus on training and labour market activation. While employment has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, Government will shortly publish Pathways to Work 2021-2025. This strategy will be the next iteration of Government's national employment services strategy and will also be the successor to the Action Plan for Jobless Households.

My Department also contributes to target 5.4 through supporting carers. In Budget 2020, the number of hours that a carer can work or study every week outside the home and still get Carer’s Benefit or Carer’s Allowance increased from 15 hours to 18.5 hours. This was further supported by an announcement in Budget 2021 that the Carer’s Support Grant will increase by €150 to €1,850 per year from June 2021.

Finally, my Department’s provision of the Fuel Allowance supports the delivery of target 7.1. Since the beginning of April 2018, the Fuel Allowance season has been extended by two weeks and the weekly rate has increased from €22.50 to €28. These measures, combined with other targeted budgetary measures listed above, ensure that low income households are not regressively impacted by increases in carbon tax. Research by the ESRI in October 2020 confirms that interventions of this nature will reverse the regressive impact of the carbon tax and will actually lead to a reduction in overall poverty, particularly child poverty.

My Department has been actively engaged in both the Senior Officials Group and Interdepartmental Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals, and will continue to play an important role in Ireland achieving its SDG targets by 2030.

I thank the Deputy for her question and hope this clarifies the matter.