Children and Youth Affairs: Impact of Poverty on Youth 8th July 2013

QUESTION NO:   250

DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (Ms. Fitzgerald)

by Deputy Bernard J. Durkan
for WRITTEN ANSWER on 04/07/2013  

 *   To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the degree to which lack of adequate of housing and/or poverty continues to impact most particularly on children and adolescents, the extent to which it is anticipated such issues can be isolated and resolved; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

                                                                                                                                                                              Bernard J. Durkan T.D.

REPLY.

As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, improving children’s outcomes is my primary objective. The development of the Children and Young People’s Policy Framework as the overarching framework under which policy and services for children and young people will be developed and implemented in the State, is an important initiative for cross departmental collaboration to secure this objective.   Early childhood care and education programmes, in particular those that are aimed at low income families, are priorities to enhance children’s opportunities for social and educational development and to support parents undertaking training and participating in employment. The network of 107 family resource centres that are funded by the Family Support Agency, under the remit of my Department have an important role in this regard.

Tackling child poverty is a priority for Government and a goal of the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007- 2016, coordinated by the Department of Social Protection. Children are more likely to be poor if they are living in lone parent households with low labour market participation and dependant on income support. The Departments of Social Protection, Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Education and Skills, are working to deliver a range of measures aimed at getting people back to work. My Department is supporting labour activation measures through initiatives such as the School Age Childcare scheme which will provide 6,000 subsidised, after-school places to primary school children of qualifying parents entering employment.

My Department works closely with the Department of Social Protection in a ‘whole of Government approach’ to tackling poverty in the population and is represented on the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare which is examining issues to do with the interactions of the tax and welfare systems so that they provide good incentives for parents to take up and remain in work and thereby contribute to the reduction of poverty and child poverty, in particular. Following a review of the national social target for poverty reduction, which provides a key reference point for Government policies and offers a tangible benchmark against which to measure social and economic progress, the Government agreed to set a new sub-target for the reduction of child poverty.   This is in recognition of the life-long consequences of child poverty and the damaging effects of inter-generational poverty.   The sub-target will take account of the importance of income supports, services and parental access to employment.   The overriding objective for the Government is to increase employment, promote activation, skills training and education.   This will ultimately help to build real and sustainable economic growth and to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society.

The Minister for Housing & Planning, Jan O Sullivan TD recently published a Homelessness Policy Statement which outlines the Government’s aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. The statement emphasises a housing-led approach which is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of homelessness. The availability and supply of secure, affordable and adequate housing is essential in ensuring sustainable tenancies and ending long-term homelessness. When publishing the statement Minister O’Sullivan announced a set of indicators which will be used to demonstrate the dynamics of homelessness as it is addressed. These indicators will give a clearer picture of homelessness in Ireland and, in quantifying its on-going extent, will support the bringing forward of realistic and practical solutions.   With regard to my own responsibility, my priority, as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, is to enhance the role of early intervention and support programmes for the most vulnerable children and their families in the context of the new Child and Family Agency.  

In addition, my Department has been given lead responsibility for implementing a new Area-Based Approach to Child Poverty programme during 2013-2016.   This programme was announced as part of Budget 2013 and has a funding allocation this year of €2.5 million.   The programme is being co-funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies and is expected to have a total funding allocation of €29.7 million.   The initiative reflects the Programme for Government commitment to adopt an area-based approach to child poverty in co-operation with philanthropic partners, drawing upon best international practice and existing services, to break the cycle of child poverty where it is most deeply entrenched and improve the outcomes for children and young people where these are currently significantly poorer than they are for children and young people living elsewhere in the State.