In line with the Programme for Government and Economic Recovery Plan commitments, the government approved the First Report on a Well-being Framework for Ireland. This will, over time, provide a comprehensive set of well-being measures to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how our society is faring, as an important complement to existing economic measurement tools.
This Well-being Framework is an important cross-government initiative that, driven by a desire to do better by people, seeks to develop a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the impact of public policy. The Report reflects the first phase of this important work.
Capturing and building on considerable national work to date this first Report provides a Vision, Conceptual Framework and accompanying Dashboard for Well-being in Ireland. It also explores its integration with policy making and includes a roadmap for further stages of the work.
The overarching vision for the framework, which will guide its development over time, is enabling all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future. The approach is fundamentally about making people’s lives better by better understanding peoples lived experience.
The Taoiseach said:
In line with the Programme for Government and Economic Recovery Plan commitments, the government today approved the First Report on a Well-being Framework for Ireland. This will, over time, provide a comprehensive set of well-being measures to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how our society is faring, as an important complement to existing economic measurement tools.
This Well-being Framework is an important cross-government initiative that, driven by a desire to do better by people, seeks to develop a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the impact of public policy. The Report reflects the first phase of this important work.
Capturing and building on considerable national work to date this first Report provides a Vision, Conceptual Framework and accompanying Dashboard for Well-being in Ireland. It also explores its integration with policy making and includes a roadmap for further stages of the work.
The overarching vision for the framework, which will guide its development over time, is enabling all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future. The approach is fundamentally about making people’s lives better by better understanding peoples lived experience.
Speaking today, the Taoiseach said:
“By helping to develop a shared understanding of what makes for better lives for our citizens, and providing a means to holistically examine and reflect on the progress of Irish society, this Well-being Framework will over time facilitate better policy making and in turn better outcomes for all our people. I would also like to acknowledge the considerable work of the NESC Subgroup of Stakeholders and Experts, whose consultation provided an important input to this work.”
Welcoming the publication, Minister McGrath said
“This is an important cross-government initiative that will give policy makers a greater insight and understanding of policy outcomes for the general public. This understanding will be important in terms of informing better public policy. The wellbeing indicators set out in this report are very much aligned with the ongoing work taking place in my own department to enhance the budgetary framework and increase the capacity of the civil service to design and implement effective public policy. Initiatives such as performance budgeting, equality budgeting, the spending review process, the Public Spending Code and the Irish Government Economic & Evaluation Service, have all contributed enormously to our understanding of how policy affects the wellbeing of our people.”
Measuring what matters most for Well-being in the Irish context allows us all to assess if things are getting better or worse, our relative performance internationally, and whether progress is sustainable into the future. Over time, it is intended that the Well-being Framework will be utilised in a systematic way across government policymaking and will work in tandem with other government initiatives that enhance using limited public resources efficiently to deliver effective public services with equality at the core.
The next phase of this work, including a ‘Public Conversation’ on the framework, will be kick-started by the launch of the CSO’s dashboard in Autumn, which will be an interactive version based on the static dashboard contained in this first Report.