Memorandum submitted by Helen Johnston,
Acting Director, of the Combat Poverty Agency (Ireland) (SM 4)
1. INTRODUCTION
I am delighted to be here today to talk about
the Irish National Anti-Poverty Strategy. I hope that you will
find the Irish experience interesting and informative, and that
it will help you in your discussions. The National Anti-Poverty
Strategy, referred to as NAPS, is a major initiative to tackle
poverty and social exclusion in Ireland through co-ordinated action
by all government departments and state agencies at national,
regional and local level. The strategy puts the needs of the poor
at the top of the national agenda and seeks to create the conditions
to enable people to break out of the cycle of poverty.
2. THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
NATIONAL ANTI-POVERTY
STRATEGY
By way of background, at the UN World Summit
for Social Development in Copenhagen in March 1995, along with
other governments, the Irish Government endorsed a programme of
action aimed at not only eliminating absolute poverty in the developing
world but also reducing overall poverty and inequalities everywhere.
Arising from this commitment, the Irish Government
approved the development of a National Anti-Poverty Strategy,
by an Interdepartmental Policy Committee. This Committee was chaired
by an Assistant Secretary in the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime
Minister) and included representation by all but two Government
Departments (Foreign Affairs and Defence) at a senior level, and
key relevant state agencies, including the Combat Poverty Agency.
The Committee set out a Programme of work for
the development of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. The first
stage involved the preparation of an Overview Discussion Paper
on the Nature and Extent of Poverty, Social Exclusion and Inequality
in Ireland; the invitation of Submissions, through public advertisement,
on what should be the focus of a national anti-poverty strategy;
and a short discussion paper suggesting suitable institutional
mechanisms for implementing a national anti-poverty strategy.
These three documents formed the basis of a
major consultation exercise. The information obtained from the
consultation exercise assisted the Inter-departmental Policy Committee
in identifying five key themes on which the Strategy subsequently
concentrated. These were:
— educational disadvantage;
— unemployment, especially long-term
unemployment;
— disadvantaged urban areas; and
More than half of the submissions emphasised
that addressing educational disadvantage was a key strategy in
tackling poverty. A feature of the five themes is that they focus
on the causes and consequences of poverty and cut across departmental
boundaries. This "cross-cutting" element is seen as
an important dimension of the NAPS and reflects and affirms the
multi-dimensional nature of poverty.
On identification of the key themes five Working
Groups were established to prepare a strategic response with suggested
policy actions. The Working Groups comprised departmental officials,
social partners, relevant representative groups and members of
community and voluntary groups involved in anti-poverty work.
In the development of the NAPS a number of "transcending"
principles have been adopted which underpin the overall Strategy.
These principles are:
— ensuring equal access and encouraging
participation for all;
— guaranteeing the rights of minorities
especially through anti-discrimination measures;
— the reduction of inequalities and
in particular, addressing the gender dimensions of poverty;
— the development of the partnership
approach building on national and local partnership processes;
— actively involving the community
and voluntary sector;
— encouraging self-reliance through
respecting individual dignity and promoting empowerment; and
— engaging in appropriate consultative
processes, especially with users of services.
With a range of information available to them,
which has been compiled through the various mechanisms described
over a two year period, the Inter-departmental Policy Committee
drew up the Irish National Anti-Poverty Strategy, which it entitled
Sharing in Progress. The Strategy was launched on the 23
April 1997 by the then coalition government of three parties—Fine
Gael, Labour and Democratic Left. The Strategy contains an agreed
definition of poverty, a brief analysis of the causes of poverty
and this most at risk and sets out a global target for poverty
reduction and targets, objectives and actions under the five key
themes as well as the structures and mechanisms required to implement
the Strategy. The NAPS is set in a 10 year time-frame—1997
to 2007.
3. TARGETS IN
THE NATIONAL
ANTI-POVERTY
STRATEGY
The starting point here was agreeing on a definition
of poverty. In the National Anti-Poverty Strategy a relative definition
has been adopted and agreed. This definition is:
People are living in poverty, if their income
and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate
as to preclude them from having a standard of living which is
regarded as acceptable by Irish society generally. As a result
of inadequate income and resources people may be excluded and
marginalised from participating in activities which are considered
the norm for other people in society.
A number of data sources have been used to measure
poverty in Ireland. The main information base for the NAPS, however,
is a national household income survey, called the Living in Ireland
Survey, which was undertaken in 1994 by the Economic and Social
Research Institute (ESRI). A particular feature of this survey
is that it is the first year of a panel survey, so that the same
households have been interviewed in 1995, 1996, 1997 and now in
1998. This will enable ongoing monitoring of the nature and extent
of poverty on an ongoing basis.
The major drawback of using this national household
income survey to measure and monitor levels of poverty in Ireland
is that it does not include people who are not living in private
households such as many Travelling families, homeless people,
people in Institutions, refugees etc. Some of these people are
known from other evidence to have very high levels and risks of
poverty, yet they are not included in this survey on which the
overall measure is based.
In the NAPS, using the Living in Ireland survey
data, poverty is measured in two ways—using relative income
levels and experience of deprivation. In relation to income, poverty
lines are set at 50 per cent and 60 per cent of average household
income—1994 money terms this was £64 for a single adult
at the 50 per cent line and £77 per week at the 60 per cent
line. (In 1998 terms this is £70 to £85 per week.) In
1994, between 21 per cent and 34 per cent of the Irish population
fell below the 50 per cent and 60 per cent poverty lines respectively.
Poverty was also measured using measures of
deprivation. This is the extent to which someone is denied the
opportunity to have or to do something that is considered the
norm in society. The ESRI has constructed a list of basic deprivation
items which includes things like not having adequate heating,
going for a day without an adequate meal, being in arrears on
mortgage, rent, electricity or gas, or not having a warm winter
coat or two pairs of strong shoes.
When low income and deprivation are combined
it is argued that people who are persistently poor are identified.
In the NAPS 9 per cent to 15 per cent of the Irish population
are identified as being persistently poor.
On the basis of the information collated by
the Inter-departmental Committee, the consultation exercise and
discussions by the Committee, the Committee decided that the focus
of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy should be to reduce the
numbers of those who are persistently poor as well as to ensure
that others at risk of poverty do not fall into poverty.
On this basis the NAPS global target
was set:
Over the period, 1997-2007, the National Anti-Poverty
Strategy will aim at considerably reducing the numbers of those
who are "persistently poor" from 9 per cent to 15 per
cent to less than 5 per cent to 10 per cent, as measured by the
ESRI.
There was considerable discussion within the
Committee as to where the target should be set, with some favouring
halving the rate or more with others being more cautious. The
outcome was to set the target at nearly, but not quite, halving
levels of persistent poverty over a 10 year period.
The Strategy also identified particular dimensions
of poverty. These included:
— groups at risk of poverty on which
NAPS initiatives should be targeted;
— the gender dimension of poverty;
— the main causes of poverty—identified
as structural—unemployment, poor educational qualifications,
impact and interaction of the tax and welfare systems;
— mediating influences—inequality,
disability, allocation of resources within households, conflict;
— spatial distribution of poverty.
These dimensions are to be addressed in implementing
the strategy and working towards reduction of the global target.
Targets were also set for each of the five key
theme areas. The quality of these targets varies greatly, mainly
depending on the information available to set and assess them.
For tackling educational disadvantage
the target is:
To eliminate the problem of early school leaving
before the junior certificate, and reduce early school leaving
such that the percentage of those completing the senior cycle
will increase to at least 90 per cent by the year 2000 and 98
per cent by the year 2007, and having regard to the assessment
of their intrinsic abilities, that there are no students with
serious literacy and numeracy problems in early primary education
within the next five years.
At the time the strategy was launched it was
estimated that just over 3,000 young people left school before
the Junior Certificate and completion rates to the end of senior
cycle were about 82 per cent. Best estimates are that about 10
per cent of pupils do not acquire satisfactory levels of literacy
and numeracy while at primary school. Information on school leaving
is collected on a regular basis, so it should be possible to monitor
these targets. However, information may be incomplete for the
most disadvantaged young people. Also, in monitoring this target
it needs to be recognised that simply retaining young people from
disadvantaged backgrounds in the education system will not, in
itself, remove inequality in educational outcome. The target,
therefore, needs to be considered in terms of altering the relationship
between educational outcome and social background.
For reducing unemployment the target
is:
To reduce the rate of unemployment, as measured
on an internationally standardised basis (ILO) by the Labour Force
Survey, from 11.9 per cent in April, 1996 to 6 per cent by 2007;
and to reduce the rate of long-term unemployment from 7 per cent
to 3.5 per cent, with a particular focus on reducing the number
of very long-term unemployed who are especially at risk of being
consistently poor.
At the time this taget was set there was considerable
discussion on what measure of unemployment should be used—the
Labour Force Survey, using the ILO definition or the PES definition,
or the Live Register. There has been considerable debate on these
issues generally in Ireland, particularly since there has been
increasing variation between the different measures. There was
also an emphasis on the need to reduce long-term unemployment
as it is the long-term unemployed who are most at risk of poverty.
Good progress is beig made, on this target mainly
due to the current pace of economic growth in Ireland. In 1997
Irish unemployment had fallen to 10.3 per cent and long-term unemployment
to 5.6 per cent. Current Irish macro-economic forecasts indicate
that the current rate of employment growth alone will be enough
to bring down the unemployment rate to 6 per cent over the 10-year
period. Recently, the Government published an Employment Action
Plan which aims to reduce unemployment to 7 per cent by 2000 and
to 5 per cent within four to five years. The emphasis in the Employment
Action Plan is on preventative measures, particularly for young
people. The NAPS target will thus need to be reviewed in relation
to the measures used to assess levels of unemployment and also
to focus on the long-term unemployed, who are particularly at
risk of being "persistently poor".
In the other three theme areas the targets set
are more aspirational and general.
For improving income adequacy:
Policy actions in relation to income adequacy
will be targeted at contributing to the overall reduction in the
percentage of the population whom the ERSI have identified as
being consistently poor from nine to 15 per cent to less than
five to 10 per cent over the period 1997 to 2007. All social welfare
payments will be increased to the minimum of the lower range recommended
by the Commission on Social Welfare.
For reducing disadvantage in urban areas
the target is:
To reduce the numbers suffering the greatest
deprivation in disadvantaged urban areas by increasing their standard
of living and providing opportunities for participation, thus
reducing the measured indicators of disadvantage in the area,
especially the rate of unemployment and particularly long-term
unemployment by 2007.
For reducing rural poverty the overall
target is:
To ensure that strategies are developed with
regard to the provision of services in rural areas, especially
those concerned with educational disadvantage, unemployment and
income adequacy, so that the overall targets of the NAPS are achieved
in rural areas.
The difficulty in setting more specific targets
for these three key themes related to the dearth of specific information
in these areas. There was also reluctance to include a target
on child poverty on the income adequacy theme. This was unfortunate
as Ireland currently has the second highest level of child poverty
in Europe (after the UK).
Comments on the targets post-publication of
the Strategy included acknowledgements that for the first time
clear measurable anti-poverty targets had been set and that mechanisms
had been put in place to monitor, evaluate and report on progress.
The National Economic and Social Forum[5]
was given responsibility for reporting on progress in implementing
the NAPS and the Combat Poverty Agency the task of overseeing
an evaluation of the NAPS process, taking into account the views
of the community and voluntary sector. At the same time commentators
recognised that the targets were somewhat modest and in some areas
unspecific.
4. IMPLEMENTING THE
NAPS—THE FIRST
YEAR
It is now one year since the publication of
the NAPS. During the last year there was a change of Government.
A new coalition government comprising Fine Fail and the Progressive
Democrats took up office in June 1997 and committed itself to
implementing the National Anti-Poverty Strategy in full, saying
that they aimed to achieve or exceed the targets contained in
the NAPS 10-year strategy (1997-2007).
To date, considerable progress has taken place
on the establishment of institutional structures. A cabinet sub-committee
on Social Inclusion, Drugs and Local Development, which includes
responsibility for NAPS, has been established. This cabinet sub-committee
is chaired by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and meets once a
month. The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs has
day-to-day responsibility for overseeing the strategy. The NAPS
Inter-Departmental Policy Committee continues to meet on a quarterly
basis. A NAPS Unit, headed by a Principal Officer and with four
staff members has been established in the Department of Social,
Community and Family Affairs to co-ordinate the implementation
of the Strategy. NAPS Liaison Officers have been nominated in
all relevant departments and a training programme for them is
currently in preparation. A public education strategy is currently
being developed and a monitoring and evaluation framework has
been agreed. Departments are in the process of preparing baseline
documents setting out initiatives to address poverty in their
respective Departments and developing work plans, including the
identification of cross-cutting initiatives.
A potentially important initiative is the development
of poverty and equality proofing guidelines. These are currently
being progressed by the Inter-departmental Policy Committee, through
the NAPS Unit and in conjunction with the Combat Poverty Agency
and the Social Partners. Poverty proofing is the process by which
government departments, local authorities and state agencies will
assess policies and programmes at design and implementation stage
in relation to the likely impact that they will have on poverty
and inequalities which are likely to lead to poverty. Guidelines
for implementing the poverty proofing procedures are in the process
of being developed.
However, progress on the implementation of specific
actions has been slow. While recognising that in the implementation
of a 10 year strategy it is important that policies and structures
are put in place to reduce poverty over the longer term rather
than "quick fix" short-term solutions, progress should
be made, and be seen to be made, on honouring commitments in the
Strategy. For example, the last Irish Budget was very disappointing
in the priority it gave to tackling poverty. The Combat Poverty
Agency undertook an analysis of the 1998 Budget in the context
of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy and concluded that given
the very favourable public finances and economic projections in
Ireland the Budget fell far short of the reform needed to radically
alter the lives of those who live in poverty. While the Budget
was unprecedented in its generosity, much more could have been
done to tackle poverty with the resources available. The most
disappointing aspect of the Budget was its lack of strategic direction
in progressing measures with a clear anti-poverty focus, with
the net effect of widening the gap between rich and poor. This
was a particularly disappointing outcome given this was the first
Budget since the launch of the NAPS.
5. REFLECTIONS ON
NAPS TO DATE
In reflecting on the progress of NAPS to date
important and significant points are:
(i) The fact that Ireland has a National
Anti-Poverty Strategy.
(ii) The fact that the NAPS is an integrated
strategy which sets out to address the underlying causes of poverty
and social exclusion. The extent of poverty, its structural causes
and the need for a multi-dimensional response has been formally
recognised by Government.
(iii) That NAPS has withstood a change of
Government.
(iv) NAPS has been linked with other public
policy initiatives, which means that anti-poverty action will
be at the forefront of policy and administrative development in
the foreseeable future.
(v) For the first time, clear measurable
anti-poverty targets have been set. Even though they may be seen
to be modest they are something to aim for and there is a mechanism
for their review.
(vi) The National Economic and Social Forum
and the Combat Poverty Agency have key roles in monitoring and
evaluating the Strategy. Importantly, this will ensure that this
process is independent of the central administrative and political
systems.
(vii) A range of institutional mechanisms,
both political and administrative, have been put in place to ensure
that poverty stays at the heart of the policy-making and administrative
systems.
(viii) There is a commitment to the introduction
of poverty/equality proofing mechanisms and progress has been
made on developing guidelines.
However, there are considerable challenges to
full implementation of the NAPS and the overall reduction of poverty
in Ireland. These include:
(a) The political commitment to putting the
reduction of poverty at the top of the Government's agenda.
(b) Additional resources will be required
to implement policies to substantially reduce poverty. Specified
actions will thus have to have budget allocations, which may involve
re-prioritisation of spending.
(c) Departments will have to make commitments
in their work programmes to implement policies to reduce poverty
and work on a collaborative basis to achieve this.
(d) Actions cited as social inclusion measures
will need to be carefully defined, as it is clear that not all
so-called social inclusion measures will necessarily prevent or
reduce poverty.
(e) The involvement of the community and
voluntary sector. Mechanisms have not yet been identified or put
in place for this to take place. The Combat Poverty Agency has
commissioned a study to examine international models of consultation
and participation which, it is hoped, will inform the implementation
of suitable structures in Ireland.
(f) The engagement of all the social partners
in the implementation of NAPS by involving business, farming and
trade union interests.
(g) Over the last year the main progress
has been at a central level. It will be important that delivery
of the Strategy is broadened out from central government to state
agencies and local government.
(h) There is an ongoing need to raise public
awareness about levels of poverty in Ireland and the need to tackle
exclusion. A NAPS public education strategy will be important
in publicising the need for, and the content of, the NAPS.
(i) It will be important that an independent
and rigorous monitoring and evaluation process is put in place
which will critically analyse progress on the implementation of
NAPS and measure trends in poverty and inequality in Ireland.
The Combat Poverty Agency will have a key role in this.
6. SETTING AND
MONITORING TARGETS
There are a number of observations which can
be made about the setting and monitoring of targets.
First, information on the current situation
or baseline position is required; in Ireland this information
was available in some areas, but limited in others and this is
reflected in the targets.
Second, a comprehensive and broad ranging strategy
is required to address the multi-dimensional nature of poverty,
but within this specific targets should be set.
Third, consultation is required on the focus
of the targets, objectives, policies and actions for anti-poverty
policies, programmes and actions.
Fourth, a commitment to monitoring is required.
This should result in further data collection and consultation.
Fifth, the aim should be to set targets which
are ambitious but achievable, i.e. a balance is required.
Sixth, a mechanism for ongoing review and the
adjustment of targets is required.
I see the benefits of setting targets
as follows:
— an indication of political commitment
to reducing levels of poverty;
— having a clear view and direction
about what is to be achieved;
— they should provide an element of
consensus on what the strategy sets out to achieve;
— they provide a stimulus to putting
in place structures and policies to achieve the targets; and
— they should ensure ongoing monitoring
of the implementation of the Strategy, through ongoing data collection
and consultation.
However, they may be a number of drawbacks
to be guarded against. These include:
— that working towards and achieving
the targets may not necessarily address the underlying structural
inequalities in the system, therefore there is a continual need
to keep your eye on the bigger picture and what you are ultimately
trying to achieve;
— the targets may not be ambitious
enough; therefore they need to be continually reviewed and adjusted,
if necessary;
— measurement issues; for example,
what should be measured and how best to make these measurements?
What should be measured quantitatively and what should be measured
qualitatively? Who should measure?
— there are a number of data demands
in setting and monitoring the targets—this costs money and
takes time;
— finally, there is a need to take
into account the changing economic, political and social context
and to adjust targets and policies accordingly.
7. CONCLUSIONS
This has been a brief summary of the development
and initially implementation of the Irish National Anti-Poverty
Strategy. Personally, I believe this is a very significant development
and if implemented with commitment, vigour, enthusiasm and adequate
resources can really lead to substantial poverty reduction in
Ireland. Ireland is in a very fortunate position at the moment
with very strong economic growth and favourable demographics.
Given this opportunity it is imperative that over the next few
years real progress is made on fulfilling the commitments made
in the NAPS. The monitoring of the Strategy through data collection
and analysis will play a key role in ensuring that poverty is
being reduced in Ireland. Ultimately, however, the NAPS will only
be working when poverty has become the concern of all policy makers
and agencies concerned with economic, social and cultural policies.
Only then will NAPS be addressing the fundamental challenge which
faces Ireland—to develop and adapt our existing model of
development so that it reconciles economic growth and competitiveness
with the promotion of social inclusion and equity.
16 June 1998
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