Press release
Minister O’Brien launches public consultation for the mid-term review of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister of State with responsibility for social inclusion in the Department of Social Protection, Joe O’Brien, today (Tuesday 6 September) launched a public consultation for the Roadmap for Social Inclusion Mid-Term Review.
The consultation forms part of the commitment in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020 – 2025 (available below), published in January 2020, to undertake “an independent mid-term review of the Roadmap in 2022.”
The Roadmap for Social Inclusion is a whole of government strategy for addressing poverty and social exclusion. The Roadmap contains ambitious targets to reduce consistent poverty to 2 per cent or less by 2025, and to position Ireland within the top five countries in the EU under a number of leading social inclusion measures.
The aim of the public consultation is to identify what works well in achieving the Roadmap’s goals, what areas of delivery could be improved and what should be prioritised for the remainder of the strategy. Respondents are also invited to provide any other relevant feedback.
Launching the public consultation, Minister O’Brien said:
“As we strive to fulfil the commitments outlined in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, we seek feedback at its mid-point on its effectiveness from those most impacted by poverty and social exclusion.
"As Chair of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion Steering Group, I am keen to hear the views of the public, particularly people experiencing poverty and social exclusion, and the groups that represent them.
"This is the second phase of the consultation process, which commenced at the Social Inclusion Forum in June 2022. I would encourage people to take the time to respond. The results from this public consultation will provide a guide in how best to focus our work towards reducing poverty and social exclusion for the remaining duration of the Roadmap – so that the most vulnerable members of our society can reap the benefits.”
The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025: Ambition, Goals, Commitments is the national strategy for poverty reduction and improved social inclusion.
It aims to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. The Roadmap translates this ambition into seven goals underpinned by 66 unique commitments to be taken to help deliver these goals. An annual Progress Report measures progress towards the Roadmap goals and is accompanied by a Roadmap report card which details progress on each of the Roadmap commitments. Access the most recent versions of the Progress Report and Report card.
The Roadmap commits that “an independent mid-term review of the Roadmap will be undertaken in 2022.” The Department of Social Protection has contracted Ipsos to undertake the public consultation phase of this review.
A link to the consultation is available at www.gov.ie/RoadmapConsultation and will be open until Friday, 7 October 2022.
Members of the public are also invited to make submissions by email to IE-PA-Midtermreview@ipsos.com by 7 October. Only submissions made to this email address will be accepted.
