Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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537. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the CSO report survey on income and living conditions. [24943/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Survey on Income and Living Conditions contains the official poverty data for Ireland. The most recent survey results (SILC 2021) were published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 6 May 2022.

The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020–2025 is the national strategy for poverty reduction and social inclusion. The ambitious headline target is to reduce the percentage of the population in consistent poverty to 2% or less by 2025.

SILC 2021 shows that there have been improvements across the key national poverty indicators. The rate of consistent poverty decreased by a 0.7 percentage points to 4%. Government welcomes this steady progress towards meeting the national social target for poverty reduction. In addition, child poverty decreased significantly – from 7.2% in SILC 2020 to 5.2% in SILC 2021.

Data from SILC 2021 highlights the protective effect that social transfers have on poverty. Without social transfers, the at risk of poverty rate would have been 38.6%. Social transfers reduced this rate to 11.6%. This represents a 70% reduction on the at risk of poverty rate in 2021. Ireland is consistently one of the best performing EU countries in reducing poverty through social transfers.

The survey results also show that social welfare and COVID-19 income supports were key in sustaining incomes. Without COVID-19 income supports, average household incomes would have fallen by 6.2%. As a result of COVID-19 income supports, average household incomes actually increased by 5.2%. It is particularly welcome that household disposable incomes increased across all income deciles.

The SILC 2021 report also calculated the Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality out of 100 and where a smaller number represents greater income equality. It found income equality had improved in Ireland, from 28.5 in SILC 2020 to 27 in SILC 2021, and that social transfers played a key role in this. Without social transfers, the Gini coefficient would have been 43.4.

Combined with the other SILC 2021 findings, the reduction in income inequality displays the effectiveness of Ireland’s social welfare system at both redistributing income and reducing poverty.

The survey results will be incorporated into our annual reporting on progress against targets set out in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion. It is very positive to see the improvements across key poverty indicators, but I am aware of the higher levels of poverty for certain groups, such as people with disabilities and lone parents. The continued implementation of Roadmap commitments is key to ensuring a reduction in poverty for all segments in society. I will continue to work with my Government colleagues as we strive for further improvements across the key national poverty indicators, ensuring continued support for those most at risk of poverty.