Barry Heneghan
Question:98. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on implementation of the well-being framework published by his Department. [5809/26]
View answerTuesday, 10 February 2026
Questions (98)
Written answers
Ireland’s Well-being Framework is a cross-Government initiative to measure progress and policy impact in Ireland in a more holistic way.
The Framework consists of 35 indictors grouped under 11 dimensions which reflect different aspects of well-being. It is supported by a dashboard, hosted by the Central Statistics Office which brings together all the Framework’s economic, social and environmental statistics in an integrated way.
Each year, ‘Understanding Life in Ireland’ is published, which assesses Ireland’s Well-being performance across these 35 indicators. An updated analysis will be published before the summer.
The 2025 assessment shows that Ireland’s overall performance is positive, in particular, in areas including work and job quality and our social connections and community.
Only two of the eleven dimensions, the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity dimension, and Mental and Physical Health dimension, showed a negative performance.
The analysis also highlights that there is more work to do. In particular, there are some groups in our society for whom progress is unequal across multiple areas of well-being, including: people with long-term illness or disability, single-parent households, unemployed people, younger people in the workforce, households with lower incomes, and households in rented accommodation.
To assist expenditure policy making, we continue to integrate the Framework into the Budgetary process. The Well-being Framework was featured at last year’s National Economic Dialogue and as part of the Summer Economic Statement.
The Well-being Framework was also part of the documents and analysis underpinning Budget 2026, this included:
• Analysis of the dashboard in Budget-day documentation, and,
• A paper showing how selected expenditure measures in Budget 2026 are enhancing well-being, published by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.