THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The National Development Plan 2007-2013 Transforming Ireland – A Better Quality of Life for All (NDP) was launched in January 2007. It involves investment of €183 billion and sets out the road map for the future development of Ireland. It represents a major increase over the €58 billion investment in the 2000-2006 NDP. There is no EU funding in the new Plan, it is funded from domestic sources, most of it by the Central Exchequer.

The NDP for the first time contains a specific chapter on social inclusion. It covers a number of specific measures presented in programmes such as: Employment and Training; Educational Inclusion; Community Development; Justice and Equality; Social Development; and Childcare. There are also cross-references to other significant elements of the NDP such as social housing in the Social Infrastructure Chapter, the CLAR programme in the Enterprise Chapter, and employment elements in the Human Capital Chapter Implementation of these measures requires actions to be taken at both a national and local level and to be focussed on the most disadvantaged areas. 

To ensure that policies make a decisive impact on poverty, the Government agreed that significant interventions are required to prioritise a small number of high level goals. These interventions are set out in the NDP and in the National Action Plan for social inclusion (NAPinclusion). They are designed to address long-standing and serious social deficits with the ultimate aim of reducing consistent poverty. These high level goals are set out below.

The five over-arching investment priorities in the NDP are as follows:

NDP Expenditure on Social Inclusion

Expenditure on the programmes contained in the Social Inclusion Chapter of the NDP will be €49.6 billion. The main elements are set out below: 

• €19.3 billion in respect of people with disabilities;

• €12.3 billion Children’s Programme covering childcare services, child protection and recreational facilities for children and educational help.

• 9.7 billion to help older people live independently at home and for investment in residential care facilities for older people who are no longer able to live at home;

• €4.2 billion in Education Support programmes for people of working age to support further adult education, tackle early school leaving, improve student support and third level access; 

• €1.1 billion in Working Age in Social and Economic Participation programmes; 

• €1.9 billion to support the development of our increasingly diverse communities, implementation of the National Drugs Strategy, strengthening and enhancing the RAPID programme for disadvantaged urban areas, and investment in Family Resource Centres; 

• €848 million to support immigrant integration, the advancement of members of the Travelling Community, the National Action Plan Against Racism and programmes and measures to combat gender inequality.

In addition there is expenditure in other areas of the NDP which is crucial to combating poverty and social exclusion, including housing, education, employment and health. Key areas include:

• Over €21 billion for housing, delivering assistance through social, affordable and voluntary housing schemes to over 140,000 households over the Plan period, including 100,000 new social and affordable units;

• €5 billion investment in health infrastructure: acute hospital care; primary community and continuing care; and health information and communications;

• €5 billion in schools development and €13billion in higher education; 

• Almost €2 billion for sport and culture.

• Almost €4.9 billion for targeted training and supports to groups outside the labour market;

• €2.9 billion to improve training for people in employment, to help upskill those who may be affected by industrial restructuring, to improve and enlarge the apprenticeship system and to provide progression opportunities for school leavers. 

• €90 million investment in expanding the Rural Transport Initiative.

Annex : High Level Goals for Social Inclusion – common to NDP and NAPinclusion

The following nine high level goals for Social Inclusion are contained in both the NDP and the NAPinclusion. The overall poverty target and three further goals in relation to social welfare income supports are contained in the NAPinclusion. The nine common goals, set out using the lifecycle approach are as follows:

Children

Ensure that targeted pre-school education is provided to children from urban primary school communities covered by the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools

(DEIS) action plan.

Reduce the proportion of pupils with serious literacy difficulties in primary schools serving disadvantaged communities. The target is to half the proportion from the current 27%-30% to less than 15% by 2016.

Work to ensure that the proportion of the population aged 20-24 completing upper second level education or equivalent will exceed 90% by 2013.

People of Working Age

Introduce an active case management approach that will support those on long term social welfare into education, training and employment. The target is to support 50,000 such people, including lone parents and the long term unemployed, with an overall aim of reducing by 20% the number of those whose total income is derived from long term social welfare payments by 2016. This target will be reviewed in the light of experience.

Older People

Continue to increase investment in community care services for older people, including home care packages and enhanced day care services to support them to live independently in the community for as long as possible.

People with Disabilities

Increase the employment of people with disabilities who do not have a difficulty in retaining a job. The immediate objective is to have an additional 7,000 of that cohort in employment by 2010. The longer term target is to raise the employment rate of people with disabilities from 37% to 45% by 2016 as measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey. The overall participation rate in education, training and employment will be increased to 50% by 2016. These targets will be reviewed in the light of experience and the availability of better data.

Communities

Housing

Deliver high quality housing for those who cannot afford to meet their own housing needs and to underpin the building of sustainable communities. An important element will be the enhanced housing output reflected in Towards 2016, which will result in the accommodation needs of some 60,000 new households being addressed over the period 2007 to 2009. This will embrace meeting special housing needs (the homeless, Travellers, older people and people with disabilities).

Health

Develop 500 primary care teams by 2011 which will improve access to services in the community with particular emphasis on meeting the needs of holders of medical cards.

Integration of Migrants

Develop a strategy aimed at achieving the integration of newcomers in our society. As an initial action, resources for the provision of 550 teachers for language supports in the education sector will be provided by 2009 and access to other public services through translation of information and supports will be improved.

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