Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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334. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the failure to make progress towards the Roadmap for Social Inclusion target of reducing consistent poverty from 5% to 2% or less by 2025, given that the most recent EU-SILC data shows the rate remains at 5% showing no net reduction; the analysis his Department has undertaken of the reasons for this stagnation; the specific actions he now intends to take to reverse this trend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33357/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim of reducing consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive member states in the EU. The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, with 81 commitments.

Progress towards achieving the aims of the Roadmap are measured using the Survey of Income and Living Standards (SILC), which is published by the Central Statistics office annually. Additional data comes from the EU-SILC, published by Eurostat, which provides comparisons across the 27 EU member states.

Since the publication of the Roadmap in 2020, consistent poverty as reported in the annual SILC data has reduced slightly from 5.6% in 2018 to 5.0% in 2024. While it was disappointing to see an increase from the 2023 rate of 3.6%, it should be noted that the 2024 data is based on 2023 incomes, therefore not taking account of Budget 2024 or Budget 2025 measures.

Under successive Budgets the social welfare packages have been the largest in the history of the State, and the last three Budgets contained significant cost of living packages, only one of which is reflected in the 2024 data. Government has introduced a range of other measures to reduce costs for people throughout the country including a range of energy supports, including energy credits, extending the eligibility of the fuel allowance scheme and introducing hot school meals and free school books.

Additionally, the impact of social transfers and cost-of-living measures show that Government interventions have a positive impact on poverty rates. Without social transfers the at-risk-of-poverty rate in 2024 would have been 31.4%, compared with the rate of 11.7% reported after social transfers. Further, without the cost-of-living measures introduced by Government the 2024 at-risk-of-poverty rate would have been 14.1%, and the consistent poverty rate would have been 5.6%.

However, recognising that certain groups (such as lone parents, the unemployed, people unable to work due to long-standing health issues and renters) continue to experience significantly higher rates of poverty, under the Programme for Government we have committed to continuing to focus on measures to address poverty and social exclusion.

Additionally work has commenced on the development of a successor to the Roadmap for Social Inclusion. A public consultation on this was launched in April and remains open until the end of June. I look forward to hearing the views of all interested parties, and suggestions on how to improve social inclusion and reduce poverty for those most impacted.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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335. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the way in which feedback and recommendations from the Social Inclusion Forum are integrated into the development and implementation of national anti-poverty policy; his views on the Forum’s role in informing future iterations of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33358/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Social Inclusion Forum was established by Government in 2002, as part of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy institutional structures, and has continued to be part of the monitoring and evaluation structure of successive strategies, including the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025. The aim of the Forum is to give people who are directly affected by poverty and social exclusion, and those who work with them, a voice in the development of the policies that affect them and in the way that these policies are implemented.

The Social Inclusion Forum plays a crucial role in shaping both policy direction and practice, in line with commitments under the Roadmap and obligations under EU and international frameworks.

Each year, feedback and recommendations from Forum participants are formally captured and reviewed by the Department of Social Protection. These insights are used to inform the implementation of the Roadmap, as well as the development of future anti-poverty strategies.

The theme of the 2025 Social Inclusion Forum was "Reflecting on the Past and Informing the Future of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion." The Forum included five workshops on key topics (1. Building inclusive communities, 2. Families and children, 3. People with disabilities, 4. Older people and 5. Travellers and Roma) with facilitators from the community and voluntary sector, and presentations from expert practitioners.

Importantly, the Social Inclusion Forum also informs the budgetary process. Priorities identified - such as income adequacy, access to employment and education, disability supports, housing needs, and cost-of-living pressures - are taken into account during the Department’s internal budgetary planning, and are reflected in the proposals brought forward for annual Budget negotiations.

Several measures introduced in recent Budgets - such as increases to core social welfare payments, targeted cost-of-living supports, enhanced employment programmes for people with disabilities, and funding for community services - have been influenced by the real-world concerns raised through the Forum.

Additionally, the Department considers feedback from the Forum to assess policy effectiveness and set priorities for the remaining period of the Roadmap. As work begins on the successor to the Roadmap, the Department remains fully committed to ensuring that the Social Inclusion Forum continues to play a formative and sustained role, not only in policy design but also in shaping the budgetary decisions that underpin our national approach to reducing poverty and social exclusion. Discussions at this year's Forum will feed into the development of the successor to the Roadmap.

It is intended that the Department of Social Protection will publish the successor to the Roadmap for Social Inclusion in the first half of 2026.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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336. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for an update on progress toward the Roadmap for Social Inclusion targets specifically relating to child poverty and jobless households; the data sources used to track these targets; his views on the challenges and interventions identified to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33359/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim of reducing consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive member states in the EU. The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, with 81 commitments.

Goal four of the Roadmap is "Supporting Families and Children." This goal aims to reduce child poverty in Ireland and to ensure that all families have the opportunity to participate fully in society.

Progress made to date on the delivery of this goal includes:

• Annual increases to the income thresholds for the Working Family Payment.
• Cost-of-living measures targeting families with children.
• Eligibility for GP visit cards was extended to all children under 8 years of age from August 2023.
• The establishment of a Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office in the Department of the Taoiseach in 2023, who published a cross-Government programme plan, From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Well-being 2023-2025.
• The roll out of the Hot School Meal Programme to all DEIS primary and special schools, with the extension of the Hot School Meals Programme to non-DEIS primary schools commencing in April 2024.
• The launch of Equal Start, a funding model and set of universal and targeted measures to support access to, and participation in, early learning and childcare for children and their families who experience disadvantage, in May 2024.
• The extension of Child Benefit to 18-year-olds in full time education from September 2024

• The establishment of the Labour Market Advisory Council, which plays a key role in advising Government on public policy responses to support the labour market recovery.
• The continued implementation and growth of the National Childcare Scheme.
• The publication of the Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy 2020-2024:Transforming Learning in July 2020, The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021 to 2025 in April 2021, and Pathways to Work 2021-2025 in July 2021.
• The phased extension of Parent’s Leave and Benefit for each parent to 9 weeks by July 2024.
• Increases to the earnings disregard for those on Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, and Carer's Allowance and Benefit.
• Increases and improvements to bus services under Connecting Ireland, meaning it is easier to access employment opportunities and connect to the wider TFI Network.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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337. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for an update on progress toward the Roadmap for Social Inclusion targets specifically relating to poverty amongst older persons; the data sources used to track these targets; his views on the challenges and interventions identified to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33360/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim of reducing consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive member states in the EU. The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, with 81 commitments.

Goal three of the Roadmap is "Supporting Older People." This goal aims to protect the incomes of older people through the delivery of the commitment to benchmark State pension payments.

Progress made to date on the delivery of this goal includes:

• Annual increases to the maximum weekly rate of all state pensions under each Budget since 2020, with proportionate increases for people getting a reduced rate.
• Cost-of-living payments targeting pensioners since 2022.
• Reforms to the State Pension system were announced in September 2022, in response to the Pensions Commission's recommendations. A smoothed earnings method to calculate a benchmarked/indexed rate of State Pension payments was introduced in 2023 as an input to the annual budget process.
• The largest ever expansion of the Fuel Allowance Scheme in 2023.
• The HSE's National Dementia Office published the Model of Care for Dementia Care in May 2023.
• Under the Capital Programme for Older Persons Residential Centres, work has been ongoing to replace, upgrade and refurbish care facilities at 90 locations.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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338. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the mechanisms that exist across Government to ensure interdepartmental coordination in delivering the Roadmap for Social Inclusion; the way in which his Department monitors implementation across sectors; his views on the effectiveness of these oversight arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33361/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim of reducing consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive member states in the EU.

The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, with 81 commitments. Implementation of Roadmap commitments is well underway with many either fully achieved or close to completion and work ongoing in relation to the remainder. At the end of March 2025, 60 Roadmap commitments were either fully achieved or achieved with ongoing delivery, with delivery on the remaining 21 commitments in progress.

Four Progress Reports on the implementation of the Roadmap ambition and goals are available on gov.ie, covering the progress made from January 2020 to June 2024. These are accompanied by four Report Cards detailing progress on each Roadmap commitment.

The Social Inclusion Roadmap Steering Group, which I chair, oversees progress on implementation of Roadmap commitments. It comprises senior representatives of responsible Departments and three external members from the Community and Voluntary Sector. There have been 12 meetings of the Social Inclusion Roadmap Steering Group to date, most recently in April 2025.

The Government is fully committed to the implementation of the Roadmap. I will continue to drive delivery of the remaining commitments to ensure that no-one is left behind in the ongoing implementation of this vital national strategy.