Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 June 2025
338. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the mechanisms that exist across Government to ensure interdepartmental coordination in delivering the Roadmap for Social Inclusion; the way in which his Department monitors implementation across sectors; his views on the effectiveness of these oversight arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33361/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy with the ambitious aim of reducing consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive member states in the EU.
The Roadmap was published in January 2020 and contains seven high level goals, with 81 commitments. Implementation of Roadmap commitments is well underway with many either fully achieved or close to completion and work ongoing in relation to the remainder. At the end of March 2025, 60 Roadmap commitments were either fully achieved or achieved with ongoing delivery, with delivery on the remaining 21 commitments in progress.
Four Progress Reports on the implementation of the Roadmap ambition and goals are available on gov.ie, covering the progress made from January 2020 to June 2024. These are accompanied by four Report Cards detailing progress on each Roadmap commitment.
The Social Inclusion Roadmap Steering Group, which I chair, oversees progress on implementation of Roadmap commitments. It comprises senior representatives of responsible Departments and three external members from the Community and Voluntary Sector. There have been 12 meetings of the Social Inclusion Roadmap Steering Group to date, most recently in April 2025.
The Government is fully committed to the implementation of the Roadmap. I will continue to drive delivery of the remaining commitments to ensure that no-one is left behind in the ongoing implementation of this vital national strategy.
