Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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740. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he plans to develop a new National Child Poverty Plan with a dedicated unit to ensure an integrated and cross-governmental approach to address high levels of poverty in households headed by one parent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55142/22]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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742. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to develop a new National Child Poverty Plan to address high levels of poverty in households headed by one parent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55755/22]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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773. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department will develop a new national child poverty plan, with a dedicated unit that encompasses an integrated and cross-governmental approach to address high levels of poverty in households headed by one parent. [55040/22]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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790. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the plans to develop a national child poverty plan as required under the EU child guarantee to tackle child poverty. [55443/22]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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798. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will immediately establish a new national child poverty plan with a dedicated unit that encompasses an integrated and cross-governmental approach to address high levels of poverty in households headed by one parent. [55651/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 740, 742, 773, 790 and 798 together.

With regard to any general proposal for a national child poverty plan, responsibility for addressing poverty is primarily a matter for the Department of Social Protection. Accordingly it would not be for this Department to lead on a cross-governmental approach. However this Department does have a range of actions under different policy lines and units which address childhood poverty. These include

1. Co-ordinating Actions across Government in relation to implementation of the European Child Guarantee. In 2019, the European Commission announced the creation of a European Child Guarantee with a view to ensuring that every child in Europe at risk of poverty or social exclusion has access to the most basic of rights like healthcare and education. The Child Guarantee, adopted by the Council of the European Union in June 2021, aims to prevent and combat social exclusion by guaranteeing the access of children in need to a set of key services, namely early childhood education and care, education, healthcare, nutrition, and housing.

An obligation for all member states, under the Child Guarantee, was the development and publication of a National Action Plan addressing the named aspects of the Guarantee. Ireland published its National Action Plan in June 2022. The publication of the National Action Plan was an important first step in the implementation of the EU Child Guarantee. My Department is coordinating actions across Government in addition to holding responsibility for the delivery of actions contained in this Plan relating to Early Childhood Education and Care.

It is important to emphasise that the National Action Plan is designed to meet the specific requirements of member states under the Child Guarantee. The National Action Plan details efforts, in accordance with the aims of the Guarantee, to address child poverty and social exclusion in Ireland and, in so doing, highlights key strategies currently in play. The key areas of the Plan refer to actions, objectives, targets and timelines - addressing some of the key barriers identified – in each of the named sectors of Education, Early Years, Health, Nutrition and Housing.

Identifying the most appropriate and effective structures to pursue the reforms necessary to improve outcomes for our most disadvantaged children and young people is a particular focus of work. In this regard, the new National Framework for Children and Young People, currently under development, and its cross-government and cross-sectoral engagement will inform the implementation of the Child Guarantee National Action Plan.

2. First Five is the national strategy for babies and young children. A key commitment of First Five is the development of “mechanisms to provide additional supports to Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings where there are high proportions of children who are at risk of poverty to mitigate the impacts of early disadvantage. Specifically, informed by the DEIS model, to develop a programme for the delivery of ELC in the context of concentrated disadvantage.

Work is underway to develop a “Tackling Disadvantage” response, which will seek to mitigate certain issues which go beyond the subsidisation of fees supported by NCS and previously by the CCS, CCSP and TEC schemes. Informed by recommendations in Partnership for the Public Good, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families’ accessing their services who are experiencing disadvantage.

3. Early Childhood CareMy Department is currently developing a strategic response to address issues of socio-economic disadvantage in Early Childhood Care and Education settings. Informed by recommendations in “Partnership for the Public Good”, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families accessing their services who are experiencing disadvantage.

4. Policy Framework for Children and Young PeopleMy Department are currently developing a new Policy Framework for Children and Young People (0-24), covering the period 2023-2028. This framework will adopt a rights-based approach, ensuring children and young people’s rights are realised in Ireland, and that children and young people are a central consideration in all decisions affecting their lives.

The new policy framework will focus on the areas of most significant difficulty for children and young people, especially those who are vulnerable. The new framework will identify areas which require action across Government, such as child poverty, and focus on these pressing challenges in a focused, time-bound way as ‘Spotlights.’ It will bring visibility to an issue and foster a cross-government approach to removing barriers and addressing challenges to children and young people’s rights.

5. Child-specific poverty research programmeSince 2019 the department has a child-specific poverty research programme. Under which the DCEDIY has undertaken three specific initiatives aimed at enhancing understanding of the impact of poverty on the lives of children and their families:

I. www.gov.ie/en/publication/a1580-income-poverty-and-deprivation-among-children-a-statistical-baseline-analysis-july-2020/

II. www.esri.ie/publications/the-dynamics-of-child-poverty-in-ireland-evidence-from-the-growing-up-in-ireland

The third piece is on the methodological and ethical issues in hearing the voices of children with lived experience of poverty. This advice should be received by the Department in 2022. The Department hopes to commission research in 2023 to hear those voices.