1. Young Knocknaheeny
And so?

2. The background
I grew up in Dublin, and went to school in the North Inner City, then, as now, one of the poorest parts of Ireland.
Many of the kids my age, who lived beside my school, died in the first heroin epidemic of the ‘70s.
The areas in Dublin that were poor then, in the Sixties, are still poor.
The poverty is not quite the same, but it’s still very real.

3. The background
This is the place John Lonergan meant, when he said that he could drive around the streets, and see his future customers, standing at street corners

4. The background
This is the place John Lonergan meant, when he said that he could drive around the streets, and see his future customers, standing at street corners
He was a notably far-sighted governor of Mountjoy

5. The Problem Moderate levels of childhood poverty
(Due to sustained social security payments)
High levels of young people not in education, training or unemployment
Low skills, low wages, for too many people
Limited educational opportunities for too many people

6. Child Poverty 2013

7. Child Poverty (UNICEF) 2013

8. Children in Deprived Households (UNICEF 2013)

10. NEET’s

11. Change

12. Unemployment

13. Life long learning

15. The cost The high levels of poverty impose major costs on society
These include lost productivity, costs of social supports, costs of the criminal justice system, and costs of long term care, be that in prison, a homeless service, or a health care facility.
There is abundant evidence that social inequality is very bad for society, and also, very bad for politics, as we may see tomorrow in the US.

16. Some answers Education, of high quality
Supporting people to access opportunities
Equity, not equality

17. Equity, not Equality
“Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire.”

18. Some answers Education, of high quality
Supporting people to access opportunities
Equity, not equality
Community led work

19. Evaluation
Evaluation is relatively new in the Irish public service, but it’s catching on
We now have a whole set of evaluations of programs intended to improve the lives of children and young adults in poorer communities
Some of which worked
And so?

20. A diversion
I led a project on future needs in child health research, funded by the EU
The biggest need was work on implementation
How do we take the program that worked over there, and make it work here?
A fair, and seriously under studied, question.

21. Pilot studies and evaluations
Ireland is littered with pilot studies, quite a few properly evaluated, and shown to work, which have never become national policy
Des O’Neill, the geriatrican, talks of ‘implementation deficit disorder’, and quotes Joyce, who argued that there was a paralysis of the will affecting the Irish

22. Time to change? Pilot studies and evaluations
Ireland is littered with pilot studies, quite a few properly evaluated, and shown to work, which have never become national policy
Des O’Neill, the geriatrican, talks of ‘implementation deficit disorder’, and quotes Joyce, who spoke of a paralysis of the will affecting us
Time to change?

23. References
UNICEF Office of Research Fairness for Children: A League Table of Inequality in Child Well-Being in Rich Countries. Innocenti Report Card 13. Innocenti, Florence : UNICEF Office of Research.
OECD Data online
Expert Group on Future Skills Needs ‘Lifelong Learning Participation Amongst Adults in Ireland’. Dublin, Ireland: Solas.