Together for Children and Young People in Ireland

Executive summary

Ireland has committed to addressing child poverty and improving outcomes for children and young people. At the conclusion of the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures in 2020, the Irish Government launched reforms to achieve the Prime Minister’s ambition to make Ireland the best country in Europe to be a child and to meet EU Child Guarantee obligations. In 2023, the Department of the Taoiseach established a Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office. Additionally, Young Ireland, the new National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2023-28 was introduced, as was a review of the Child Care Act 1991.

Despite improvements, challenges persist for children and young people. While the number of children living in consistent poverty, (i.e., who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing material deprivation) fell from 9% in 2011 to 5% in 2021, it rose to 7.5% in 2022. Additionally, over one in seven children are at risk of poverty, living in households with income below the poverty line. Ireland benefits from high tertiary education rates and low school dropout rates, with youth unemployment aligning with OECD averages. Although youth poverty is below the OECD average, 13% of young people received income-replacement benefits in 2019. Socio-emotional and mental health outcomes have been worsening since the mid-2010s and, along with the topic of housing shortages, require greater investment. Young people’s trust in government is declining, and their participation in institutionalised civic activities remains low. Despite a younger-than-OECD-average Government Cabinet, young people are underrepresented in the public service and parliament.

Streamlining inter-departmental and inter-agency co-ordination

National policy co-ordination structures in Ireland have improved collaboration on policies for children and youth, but are challenged by overlapping mandates, co-ordination fatigue, limited action-oriented focus, resource-intensiveness, unclear accountability lines, and proliferation. Greater alignment of goals among departments and agencies is needed. At the subnational level, differences are noted regarding co-ordinating, planning and reporting cycles. New governance and co-ordination structures under Young Ireland, the proposed National Childcare Advisory Committee, and the Child Poverty and Wellbeing Programme Office aim to tackle siloed approaches and promote accountability in addressing complex policy challenges facing children and young people.

The Government of Ireland could consider:

• Enacting statutory child poverty reduction targets.

• Evaluating the effectiveness of the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office in driving government co-ordination on cross-cutting policy challenges, including across electoral cycles.

• Mapping co-ordination mechanisms and defining clear terms of reference to prevent mandate overlaps.

• Developing a monitoring framework to co-ordinate tracking of child and youth policy.

• Setting a statutory 'duty to co-operate' for departments and agencies beyond information sharing.

• Allocating dedicated funding for policy delivery structures including the Child and Family Agency to support strategic alignment and address service gaps.

• Reviewing and streamlining subnational level co-ordination structures for effective planning and delivery.

Promoting evidence-based policymaking and services

Ireland aims to improve evidence-based policymaking through enhanced data collection. However, gaps persist regarding gathering and utilising data on vulnerable children and young people's unmet needs and outcomes. Initiatives including the Child Rights Impact Assessment, the Participation of Children and Young People in Decision-Making Action Plan 2024-28, and the Children and Young People’s Research Programme aim to integrate children's needs into policymaking while building skills for engaging with vulnerable youth.

The Government of Ireland could consider:

• Basing prioritisation of policy objectives on robust evidence on inequalities.

• Strengthening stakeholder co-ordination on data priorities.

• Improving statistical measures and evidence collection to address evidence gaps for monitoring child poverty and its impact on child well-being.

• Enabling disaggregation and linkage of data in Ireland based on, among others, age, and equality indicators.

• Ensuring timely reporting on unmet public service needs and building robust information systems.

• Enhancing data quality and integration of datasets by standardising definitions and data collection/reporting cycles and building data protection capacities.

• Integrating international experiences in developing the Child and Youth Impact Assessment prototype.

• Supporting Departments to conduct meaningful child and youth consultation, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances, through training and guidance dissemination.

Reinforcing accountability frameworks

Political accountability mechanisms exist, but not all relevant Ministers engage in Committees affecting child and youth outcomes. The oversight system is complex, with frequently unclear or overlapping roles among bodies. Interdepartmental accountability is limited by siloed policy implementation. Reforms on spending transparency include changes to the budget system and studies assessing government spending on children. Yet, Public Service Performance Reports lack conclusive information on child-related investments. While government actions are publicised, citizen-focused documentation for public accountability is limited.

The Government of Ireland could consider:

• Ensuring that relevant Oireachtas Committee(s) periodically invite the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to report on the implementation of Young Ireland.

• Defining and clarifying roles, responsibilities, and mandates across independent oversight institutions.

• Requiring concise reporting on outcomes and impacts from departments involved in implementing Young Ireland and constituent strategies to enhance interdepartmental accountability.

• Reinforcing financial and public accountability through, among others, strengthening expenditure tracking methodologies.

Implementing Young Ireland and promoting policy coherence

Young Ireland aspires to promote co-ordinated, effective, and efficient policy implementation. It introduces new governance structures, measures to strengthen policymaking and service delivery, and a focused policy scope. “Spotlights” target persistent cross-sectoral challenges – child poverty, disability services, and youth mental health – and foster co-ordinated cross-departmental work. Constituent strategies on specific areas or groups complement Young Ireland, although improved policy coherence, stronger monitoring and evaluation, streamlining inter-ministerial co-ordination, and clearer allocation of implementation and reporting responsibilities is required.

The Government of Ireland could consider:

• Clarifying mandates of governance bodies underpinning Young Ireland and constituent strategies.

• Incentivising continuous high-level representation and strengthening local-level representation in Young Ireland governance structures.

• Enhancing policymakers’ capacities to engage children and young people meaningfully throughout Young Ireland’s lifetime, using child-friendly platforms and materials.

• Developing a formal results-based Monitoring and Evaluation framework to systematically monitor and track Young Ireland’s progress and performance.

• Aligning strategic goals of Young Ireland with other child and youth-related strategies and integrating monitoring and accountability processes of relevant strategies into those of Young Ireland.