Social Inclusion Policy In Ireland: Examining And Combating Child Poverty

1. What is the broad issue or problem that you want to examine?

2. What current policies address your chosen topic?

3. What is the history of policy approaches to this topic?

4. How do you define the specific issue or problem you are examining?

5. Who are the decision-makers? 

6. Who are the stakeholders?

7. What is the theory of what causes the problem or issue you are examining?

8. What are the options or potential solutions to the problem (including existing policies)?

9. What resources does the policy require to be implemented?

10. What are the outcomes of the current situation, including existing policies?

11. Do you recommend changing existing policy, or introducing new policies?

12. How can we measure progress? 

1: Social inclusion is one of the biggest objectives in the European countries that consider none of the citizens should be prevented from any kind of social and economic benefit. People, who are with under the poverty line due to multiple reasons such as educational disadvantages, unemployment, inadequate income or disadvantages in the urban and rural areas, have hampered their social life severely. Before a certain point of time, there was no poor law system in Ireland even though there was an apparent sense of poverty in the social system. The social inclusion law has been incorporated in the country after targeting the population in such social disadvantage. Before that the sheer relationship between the place and people was entirely ignored which further lead to deep-rooted disadvantages. Therefore through this policy, the government of Ireland triggered this issue of combating the social exclusion and poverty in the country.

2: There are some existing policies of social inclusion that tends to trigger this issue of social inclusion. The national level initiatives and structures includes the cabinet committees on social inclusion, a senior officials group, office of social inclusion, social inclusion units etc. These units have been established for coordinated the contribution of the major governmental departments towards social inclusion. Ireland also has the city an country developmental board that are conducted by the local authorities and the rural, local and community developmental organizations and state agencies. The local government also has an anti-poverty learning network for engaging into more active approach for addressing the social inclusion and poverty requirements for the country (Welfare.ie. 2017). There are also social inclusion units in seven local authorities that are funded by the government for fostering the strategic approach for social inclusion. This policy also includes a combat policy agency that supplies the framework for the local authorities. Other than these, there are several community groups that work with the local development and social inclusion programs.

3: Ireland has started developing the national policies for tacking the issue of social exclusion and poverty since the year 1997. The policies had been introduced for addressing the poverty issue in the country on the basis of an integrated framework of social and economic development. These government policies have been targeted to reduce the experience of poverty in Ireland based on the previous surveys. Ireland government has used three specific indicators for measuring the poverty: material deprivation, risk of poverty and consistent poverty which involves both the previous policies. In the EU indicator, there was consistent poverty in Ireland. The consistent poverty measure recognizes that in Ireland, the people who have less than sixty percent of medium income tend to be deprived of two or more than essential services or goods that indicates the fundamental standard of living. Considering the yearly consistent poverty rate has fell from 6.5% to 5.1% in one financial year, whereas the consistent poverty rate of children has fell from 10.3% to 7.4% in one year. Therefore it can be considered that the children have higher poverty rate than the working adults. Considering these statistics, the government has made an approach to this policy.

1. What is the broad issue or problem that you want to examine?

4: The particular issue that is being examined here is child poverty in Ireland. Childhood is a significant time period in everyones life. Childhood is the time period that helps an individual shaping their adulthood and the life they lead. The children, who are living under the poverty line, are deprived from the basic opportunities and the fundamentals that are necessary for leading a normal life. The consistent poverty affects all the aspects of the life of an individual child and it has a long term impact on the educational outcome, health and other life chances of them. The statistics of the past years shows that in the year 2015, 11.5% of the children who are aged 0-17 are living with consistent poverty (Welfare.ie. 2017). One in the nine children is under consistent poverty. It also indicates that these children are living in the households that income below sixty percent of the national median income. It also indicates that these children could go for twenty four hours without any kind of significant meal and they may also get cold because their parents or caregivers are unable to afford such. This can also indicate that these children may not have warm jacket or strong pair of shoes that can keep them warm in the cold weather. With the social inclusion policy, the child poverty has been examined so that the government can take effective steps for reducing the chances of consistent poverty.

5: The decision makers of this policy are the official government bodies, Combat Poverty Agency, Survey officials and Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). These bodies consider the survey reports and make the policies accordingly. The census reports are also considered before making the decisions. However there are times while the there is a genuine lack of coherence in the core public policies such as the social inclusion policy. However, now the government bodies need a secure long-term planning, social contracts and the social contract for addressing such issues. Therefore underpinning the integrated development of the policies, the governmental bodies should collaborate and make the decisions so that there is a sense of coherence amongst the policies.

6: The stakeholders of this policy are the 11.5% of children who are living in consistent poverty, the households that are under sixty percent of national median income, lone parent households with an individual or more than one child who are being deprived, and the government of Ireland. Other than these the households who have been unemployed in the past years and have high risks of experiencing consistent poverty and deprivation and can be at serious risk of poverty comparing to the general population of Ireland.

2. What current policies address your chosen topic?

7: Social exclusion refers to the groups of individuals who are being socially excluded for some reasons such as poverty, unemployment, race, ethnicity and several others. The primary theory that considers the existing issue of social exclusion is that the Normative Theory of Social Exclusion. This theory is based on the Grand-Barry debate that is concerned with the welfare of the general population on the basis of the opportunities being provided to them. This theory distinguishes between the cause for concern and the fact of exclusion concerning the social exclusion. There are many individuals who tend to exclude themselves voluntarily; therefore those services should not be forced onto them. However, this theory also indicates that there are a huge section of the individuals who lack the necessary opportunities for being in the society as well. Therefore, this theory states that if the social exclusion is being done in a voluntary way, it should reduce the sense that there are certain opportunities for social inclusion even at the times while the option is not chosen. However, in most of the cases it is complicated to comprehend the creation of these basic opportunities that will not be imposing an externality.

8: Apart from the existing solutions for improving the social inclusion in Ireland, there are several potential solutions that might improve the existing child poverty in the country, such as:

• Creating new job opportunities can be a great way for improving the standard of living of the general population. Since there is a huge section of the population is unable to provide the basic requirements to their children, the government should take immediate steps for improving the present employment ratio in the country.
• Education of the female population can be another potential solution for improving the present situation. The degree of education of a woman is directly related to the age at which the individual is going to marry and has a child, the financial situation and potential; opportunities and her social strata. This may be a long-term solution, but it will be adequately effective for improving the situation of children with lone parents.
• Raising the national minimum wage can also act as a potential solution. The present situation and the existing wage are not sufficient for raising a family with single or two children with all the necessities. Therefore if the government raises the present minimum wage, it may improve the social strata and the existing situation of the children.
• The government can also give out the opportunity of taking loans and fundamental financial service to the poor population. Statistics show that around ten percent of the entire population accesses the conventional banking, so if the government starts giving out loans or financial support for people who might use it to become self sufficient and start up some business on their own.
• The government should also bring the transparency in spending money as it can reduce the corruption which may bring more poverty in the country. The government of Ireland is continuously accountable to the citizens for their respective actions and the allocation of the national budget. If the system is corrupted, it will enhance the poverty in the country.

9: The necessary resources for implementing the policy are:

• The government will require huge amount of human resources at the first place. These human resources will initially work as the think-tank or the planners of implementing the policy.
• The government will also require the financial resource. If the government will plan to raise the minimum wage and improve the educational situation, it will require a huge amount of financial resource.
• The government will also require improving the existing social situation to ensure that there is no gender bias and women are getting sufficient education.

10: The considerable outcomes for the current situation are:

• There can be developmental lags in the early years of the children. It has been identified in the past that when the children living in poverty start schooling, they lack the fundamental skills that are already owned by the other children. Therefore these children can be identified with developmental differences.
• Children experiencing poor environment around them are not only affected in their developmental progress, but they also have a negative impact on their intellectual development. As the children are at a vulnerable state in their early ages, the sensitive experiences can hinder their growth to a great extent.
• The higher ratio of poverty is also related to a higher chance of premature death and illness of children. Previous surveys have shown that the children who are born in a low income family tend to die at an early age or suffer from chronic illness.
  The mental health of such children is affected to a great extent. It affects the developmental phase of children in a detrimental way.

11: In this situation, it is recommended to reshape the existing policy by creating new opportunities in the country. If the government works towards creating more opportunities for female population, it can benefit the country in different ways. Not only improving the existing situation of children, it will also help the country to find more enriched population. If the government increases the minimum wage, it will have the potential to increase the wellbeing and health situation of millions at one time. Along with that, if the government starts giving out loans for self-sufficient businesses, it will reduce the unemployment in the country to a great extent, thus it will improve the existing situation filled with poverty.

12: After implementing the policies and the reshaping the existing ones, the government should also input some key performance indicators for measuring the improvements. There should be the sustainability indicators which will help comprehending whether the decision taken is moving towards a sustainable development. There should also be some symbolical usage of the indicators which will help the government to understand whether the policy is being implemented in a right way in the economic system of the country. Other than this, there should also be a social indicator which will help the government to comprehend the social impacts of the policies.

Reference list

Welfare.ie. (2017). Social inclusion policy in Ireland. [online] Available at: https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Irish-Social-Inclusion-Policy_holder.aspx [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017].