Minister Joe O’Brien, as chair of the ‘Roadmap for Social Inclusion’, has issued a reminder that the deadline for submissions on the mid-term review of the strategy is fast approaching on October 7th.

To go straight to the survey: CLICK HERE.

The Roadmap for Social Inclusion is a whole-of-government strategy for addressing poverty and social exclusion.

It contains 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 social inclusion measures.

The purpose of the review is to evaluate progress in implementation, assess the roadmap’s ambition, its goals and its commitments in the current environment, and examine the existing roadmap indicators.

The Minister says he is keen to hear the views of the public, particularly people experiencing poverty and social exclusion, and the groups that represent them.

He 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.”

Minister O’Brien is asking for people to reflect on their experience, or that of the people they represent, of poverty and social exclusion, and the ways in which this situation could be improved during the remaining period of the Roadmap to the end of 2025.

He has pledged that the submissions received will impact the future direction of the Roadmap:

“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.”

An annual Progress Report measures progress towards the roadmap goals and is accompanied by a Roadmap report card – the most recent scorecards and progress reports can be accessed at https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/be955a-social-inclusion-division/

A link to the consultation is available at www.gov.ie/RoadmapConsultation and will be open until Friday, 7 October 2022.

The Department of Social Protection has contracted Ipsos, an independent research company, to collect data to inform the Mid-Term Review and submissions can be made by email (only) to IE-PA-Midtermreview@ipsos.com by 7 October.