Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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115. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on her Department’s work on a straw-man proposal for the restructuring of long-term disability payments; if she will provide details of the unit or group that is carrying out this work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50712/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020 – 2025 includes a commitment to develop and consult on a ‘strawman’ proposal for the restructuring of long-term disability payments to simplify the system and take account of the concerns expressed in the Make Work Pay report.

The Cost of Disability research report was published by my Department in December 2021, which is feeding into the preparation of the strawman reform proposals. Work on these proposals is being led by the Illness, Disability and Carers Policy Unit within my Department. This work is advancing and I intend to carry out a wider consultation process with all stakeholders and advocacy groups in due course.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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116. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of a review (details supplied); if the review is on track to be completed by Q4 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50713/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy that aims to reduce consistent poverty and improve social inclusion in Ireland. The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, delivered by 66 unique commitments.

Implementation of Roadmap commitments is underway with a number of commitments either fully achieved or close to completion and work ongoing in relation to the remaining commitments. The first Progress Report on the implementation on Roadmap commitments is available on gov.ie. The second Progress Report is expected to be published shortly and will provide an update on progress towards the Roadmap goals, covering the period October 2021 to June 2022. It will be accompanied by a Report Card detailing progress on each of the Roadmap commitments.

The Roadmap commits to undertaking a Mid-Term Review in 2022, which is currently underway. This includes:

- a review of progress in the implementation of commitments;

- an assessment of the existing Roadmap ambition, goals and commitments; and

- a review of the existing Roadmap indicators.

Consultation will inform each of these elements, and an independent provider, Ipsos, has been appointed to undertake stakeholder engagement. This engagement commenced with the Social Inclusion Forum which was held in June 2022 and included a session on the Mid-Term Review. A public consultation process was open from the 6th September to 7th October 2022, with key stakeholder engagement taking place next.

All components of the Mid-Term Review are on track to be completed this year, with the findings to be considered by the Roadmap Steering Group at its next meeting in December.