Child Poverty in Ireland: A Social Policy Analysis and Solutions

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of child poverty in Ireland, examining the existing social policies and proposing potential solutions. It begins by outlining the concept of social inclusion and how it relates to poverty, particularly among children. The report identifies key government initiatives and structures aimed at addressing social inclusion and poverty, such as cabinet committees and local development boards. It discusses the indicators used to measure poverty in Ireland, including material deprivation and consistent poverty, highlighting the higher poverty rates among children. The analysis delves into the impact of child poverty on education, health, and overall life chances, emphasizing the vulnerability of children living below the poverty line. The roles of various decision-makers, including government bodies and research institutes, are explored, along with the stakeholders affected by child poverty. The report also discusses the Normative Theory of Social Exclusion, which frames the issue within the context of available opportunities. Potential solutions, such as creating job opportunities, improving female education, raising the minimum wage, and providing financial services to the poor, are proposed. Finally, the report highlights the developmental and health-related outcomes of child poverty and recommends reshaping existing policies to focus on creating opportunities and implementing key performance indicators for measuring improvements. Desklib is your go-to for similar assignments.

Running head: SOCIAL POLICY
Social Policy
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1
SOCIAL POLICY
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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

2
SOCIAL POLICY
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.
Answer to question 4:
The particular issue that is being examined here is child poverty in Ireland. Childhood is a
significant time period in everyone’s 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.
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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

3
SOCIAL POLICY
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.
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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.

4
SOCIAL POLICY
 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.
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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.

5
SOCIAL POLICY
Answer to question 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.
Answer to question 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.

6
SOCIAL POLICY
Reference list
Welfare.ie. (2017). Social inclusion policy in Ireland. [online] Available at:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Irish-Social-Inclusion-Policy_holder.aspx [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017].