Social Inclusion Publications

The Social Inclusion Division has statutory functions to:

• research, monitor and report on poverty trends at national and European levels
• promote and report on the participation of people experiencing poverty in policy development and their views on implementation

To progress this, the Division co-ordinates a range of stakeholder events, facilitating discussion on social inclusion policy challenges and the evidence from research.

The research and proceedings are published in a series of annual reports and briefings.

This report looks at the relationship between income poverty and material deprivation and the potential role of policy interventions in reducing the level of consistent poverty to 2 per cent by 2025. The research highlights the relative importance of access to employment and social welfare to tackle poverty.

The analysis draws on data from SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, 2004-2019) and SWITCH, the ESRI’s tax-benefit model, to simulate the effects of changes to labour market participation and social transfer reform packages on income poverty across vulnerable groups of the population.

First, the impact of an increase in social transfers on the level of deprivation across social risk groups is investigated. Second, the impact of hypothetical changes in labour market participation on the income poverty level of vulnerable groups is explored. Finally, the impact of different social welfare reforms on income poverty of vulnerable groups is examined.

This study is an output of the Department’s three year research programme with the ESRI, 2020 – 2023.

This report uses EU-SILC data for 2016 to examine differences by social risk group and social class in access to care services – specifically, childcare and home care for people with an illness or disability.

The report focuses on 11 countries and four welfare regimes across Europe and examines the association between access to these services and both poverty and employment. There are three main findings.

First, countries with universal services, or a strong welfare state, provide greater access to care overall, and greater access for vulnerable social risk and social class groups. Countries with means tested services offer lower coverage which results in a greater chance of unmet need for care.

Second, certain social-risk groups have a higher chance of experiencing unmet need for childcare and home care. Social class or household composition differences within such groups cannot fully explain their likelihood of reporting unmet need. This suggests that social-risk groups are particularly vulnerable to unmet need.

Third, unmet need for childcare and home care is associated with deprivation and, in the case of childcare, non-employment. In this way, unmet need for childcare in particular may act as a barrier to labour market participation.

The reports suggests that although the analysis cannot establish a causal link between the two, unmet care need and non-employment are related, and could be a significant force for social exclusion. Policy efforts should limit the experience of unmet care needs.

This study builds on previous exploratory research for the department and is an output of the department’s research programme with the ESRI for the Measurement and Analysis of Household Income and Living Conditions (MAHILC).

The findings were presented at a national research conference in the ESRI on 19 September 2019.

DEASPRIA Research Projects

Social impact assessment (SIA) is an evidence-based methodology which estimates the likely distributive effects of policies on household incomes, families, poverty and access to employment.

The department undertakes rigorous and extensive ex-ante and ex-post social impact assessments (SIA) of the main welfare and direct tax budgetary policies.

This assessment uses a tax-welfare simulation model known as SWITCH, which was developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), to measure the distributive and poverty impacts of policies on family types, lifecycle groups and gender.

The department has published an integrated SIA which includes the main welfare and direct tax measures in annual budgets, since Budget 2013. Its purpose is to inform public understanding on the cumulative effect of budgetary policies on income distribution and social equality.

Impact assessments conducted by the department, can be found here.

The Social Inclusion Monitor is an annual* monitoring tool which reports on progress towards the national targets for poverty reduction and social inclusion. It also examines Ireland’s contribution to the EU poverty target and examines progress on targets contained in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025.

• It should be noted that a Combined Social Inclusion Monitor for 2018 and 2019 was published in 2021.

• A Social Portrait of People with Disabilities
• Understanding Childhood Deprivation in Ireland
• ​Work and Poverty in Ireland, 2004 to 2010
• Social Transfers and Poverty Alleviation in Ireland, 2004 - 2011
• Transitions into and out of Household Joblessness, 2004 to 2014
• Social Risk and Social Class Patterns in Poverty and Quality of Life in Ireland
• Poverty Dynamics of Social Risk Groups in the EU