Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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145. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the Well-Being Framework for Ireland overseen by his Department. [26544/22]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s Well-being Framework is the result of a Programme for Government commitment to develop a set of well-being indices to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how Irish society is faring. The overarching vision for the Well-being Framework is enabling all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future. As other countries have done, work on this initiative is being progressed on a phased basis.

The first phase of this work culminated in a First Report on a Well-being Framework for Ireland, which was approved by Government and subsequently published in July 2021. It was informed by significant consultation with stakeholders, carried out by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).

Phase two of this work was rooted in wide-ranging consultation and research, and included the launch of a Well-being Portal, and the CSO’s Well-being Information Hub, providing comprehensive accessible information and an interactive dashboard of key indicators respectively. A resulting Second Report – Understanding Life in Ireland: A Well-being perspective – was published on 2 June.

This Second Report includes an updated Well-being Framework for Ireland, which has 11 dimensions of Well-being, and sustainability (via a tagging approach) and equality as cross-cutting themes. It also includes an approach for embedding this initiative over time into policymaking, including:

- Annual published high-level analysis of the well-being dashboard and incorporation into the Budget process;

- complementary continued embedding into expenditure and evaluation policy:

- Promotion of relevant research and policy developments; and

- clear supporting structures and opportunities for engagement.

A high level analysis of the dashboard supporting the Framework was also published 2 June - Analysis Report - ‘Understanding Life in Ireland: the Well-being Dashboard’. This analysis, which will be published annually, is intended to provide an overall picture of the country’s progress, using data that facilitates a longer-term view of quality of life, and will form an input to the Budget process.

This cross-government initiative will continue to be led by the Department of the Taoiseach, and jointly sponsored by the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform.