85. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the progress his Department is making in tackling child poverty. [10097/26]

The Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office was established in the Department of the Taoiseach in 2023 to prioritise action across government in areas that will have the greatest impact for children and families experiencing poverty. The Programme Office was retained in the Programme for Government to continue the work to break down silos between departments and drive delivery.

Published in 2023, the Programme Office’s initial Programme Plan, From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Poverty and Well-being 2023-2025, builds on six focus areas which have the potential to bring about significant change for families and children.

These focus areas are:

• Income assistance and joblessness;

• Early learning and childcare;

• Reducing the cost of education;

• Family homelessness;

• Consolidating and integrating family and parental assistance, health and well-being;

• Enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty.

The Programme Office’s first Progress Report, Child Poverty and Well-being in Transition: Learning and Adapting to Accelerate Change in Children’s Lives published in early 2025, provided updates for the focus areas, acknowledged challenges and highlighted emerging lessons and priorities. The report also highlighted that the Programme Office has strengthened the cross-government focus on addressing child poverty. A copy of the report can be found on gov.ie: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-taoiseach/publications/progress-report/.

The next multi-annual Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Plan and the second Progress Report are currently under development and will be published in the coming months.

Annual Summit and Cross Government Network

Last September, I hosted the Programme Office’s second annual summit on child poverty and well-being in the Aviva Stadium.

The Summit brought together leaders, policymakers, practitioners, and change-makers from across sectors to explore how we can drive systemic change that delivers results for children.

It highlighted collaborative approaches, examined what is working, and surfaced bold ideas that are needed to address the structural barriers that keep children and families in poverty.

Children’s participation was an integral part of the day and included an art exhibition, a specially written musical performance from Jimmy Maguire of Music Generation, and engagement with our Youth Advisory Group on Child Poverty and Well-being.

The discussions and outcomes from the Summit will feed directly into the development of the Office’s second Programme Plan.

A report on the Second Annual Child Poverty and Well-being Summit was published in December and is available on gov.ie: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-taoiseach/publications/summit-2025/#summit-report.

To deepen cross government coordination, the Office established a Cross-Government Network on Child Poverty and Well-being. To date, there have been six meetings of the Cross Government Network. At the sixth meeting of the Cross-Government Network (CGN), space was created for practical exploration of how a more creative, ambitious, and responsive public sector can better support children and families through Action Learning Sets.

The results of this session will be explored at the next Cross-Government Network which will take place in Q1 2026.

The new Child Poverty Target

In September 2025, in line with commitments in the Programme for Government, the Government agreed a new Child Poverty Target - to reduce the child consistent poverty rate to 3% or less by the end of 2030. This target is ambitious, representing a reduction of 5.5 percentage points, or nearly 60%, from the current rate of 8.5%.

While consistent poverty is a very important metric, it is not the only way we have of measuring how children are doing.

Given the multifaceted nature of child poverty, both targeted income measures, and non-income measures, such as housing, education, childcare and health services, are key in reducing child poverty, as well as high quality and sustainable employment.

To support a multidimensional view of child poverty, the Programme Office on Child Poverty and Well-Being is compiling a Dashboard of Indicators that will be used alongside the new Child Poverty Target.

Budget 2026

An important strategic initiative of the Programme Office on Child Poverty and Well-being is the cross-government focus on child poverty and well-being in the annual Budget.

On 30 December, I published

Breaking the Cycle: New Measures in Budget 2026 to Address Child Poverty and Promote Well-being. This is the third cross-government report on child poverty spending in the annual Budget – and the first Budget of this Government’s term.

Budget 2026 moves away from cost-of-living payments towards permanent targeted payments to support those most vulnerable. A €320 million social welfare package for children includes the largest increase ever in the Child Support Payment, increased income thresholds for the Working Family Payment, and the extension of Fuel Allowance to those on the Working Family Payment. Other new or enhanced allocations in Budget 2026 to address child poverty through provision of services include:

• An additional €5.14 million for Equal Start - a 30% increase from the 2025 allocation

• An additional €16.5m (€48 million full year cost) to the Department of Education and Youth to implement a new DEIS Strategy and the new DEIS Plus scheme

• A 22% increase of €7.3m for Youth Justice supports

• €3.2m of additional funding to expand and strengthen the national network of Family Resource Centres, with the addition of ten new centres, bringing the national total to 136, and

• Expansion of the income thresholds for the National Childcare Scheme, which will reduce the costs of childcare for lower-income families.

Analysis from the Economic and Social Research Institute shows that the permanent measures taken in Budget 2026 are progressive and prioritise protecting the incomes of the poorest families.

This targeted approach is a strategic decision by Government to close the gap for children and families most at risk in our society. The 2026 Budget report is available on gov.ie: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-taoiseach/publications/annual-budget/#budget-2026-report.

Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan

The Government’s new housing plan Delivering Homes, Building Communities recognises that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue that we face and introduces a number of key measures to address homelessness.

One such measure relates to the development of a dedicated cross-Departmental and agency led Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan.

Given the importance of this issue for child poverty and child well-being, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are working together on this Plan, supported by relevant Government departments and State bodies.