Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 March 2026
351. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide a detailed explanation, in light of recently released CSO figures, of the actions his Government is taking to reduce the poverty rate, and at risk poverty rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21266/26]
View answerThe Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is an annual survey of households carried out by the Central Statistics Office. The survey collects information on the income and living conditions of different households in Ireland, in order to derive indicators on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion.
The 2025 SILC data shows that consistent poverty in Ireland decreased from 5.0% in 2024 to 4.7% in 2025. The at-risk-of-poverty rate increased from 11.7% in 2024 to 12.6% in 2025 and the enforced deprivation rate decreased to 15.1% in 2025, down from 15.7%.
The 2025 data also shows that social transfers (excluding pensions) continued to perform well in reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate, reducing from 33.2% before social transfers to 12.6% after social transfers. This equated to a poverty reduction effect of 62%.
In Budget 2026, the Government prioritised targeted supports for those most at risk of poverty. €28.9 billion will be spent on social protection this year, including over €1.15 billion of new measures targeted to assist households including a €10 increase in core weekly rates, an increase above the rate of inflation. The social welfare package also contained more than €320 million in targeted measures designed to tackle child poverty, including the largest ever increases in the Child Support Payment.
These measures will make a real difference to reduce poverty in communities in Ireland. The Government is committed to continuing to tackle poverty and to improving social inclusion in Ireland. Alongside income supports, we are advancing actions in housing, employment, childcare, and public services all of which will contribute to alleviating poverty rates.
The National Social Target for Poverty Reduction aims to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less. The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 recognised that poverty is multidimensional and requires a whole of Government approach beyond income supports. It contained commitments from across Government Departments which focus on poverty reduction.
At the end of 2025, 64 Roadmap commitments were either fully achieved or achieved with ongoing delivery, while the remaining 17 commitments were in progress. A final Progress Report, detailing the achievements of the Roadmap will be published in the coming months.
Officials in my Department are currently working with colleagues across departments on the development of a successor to the Roadmap, which will build on the work of the Roadmap. This new strategy will be published later this year.
