Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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1901. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide an update in respect of fulfilling the Government’s commitment to SDG1 (ending poverty, including child poverty, by 2030); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44529/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In Ireland, a whole-of-Government approach has been adopted for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under Goal 1, which relates to poverty, my Department leads on targets 1.2 and 1.3.

Target 1.2 relates to reducing poverty as nationally defined. In Ireland, the national social target for poverty reduction is outlined in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion and is to reduce consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less. The Roadmap 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.

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.

In terms of Target 1.3, which relates to implementing social protection systems with substantial coverage of the poor and vulnerable, Ireland continues to have one of the most effective systems of social transfers in the EU in terms of poverty prevention. 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%.

Finally, work has commenced on the development of a successor to the Roadmap for Social Inclusion. It is intended that my Department will prepare and publish the successor strategy in the first half of 2026.