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= Irish Poverty Reduction =

Summary:
The Europe 2020 Strategy, adopted a poverty target to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty or exclusion by 2020 (using 2010 as baseline year). Member states are required to set out parallel national targets as a means of meeting the EU target, using either national or EU indicators of poverty. Ireland’s contribution to the EU poverty target under Europe 2020 is to lift a minimum of 200,000 people out of the risk of poverty or exclusion by 2020, from a 2010 baseline.

National Action Plan for Social Inclusion is the report sent out by the Irish Department of Social Protection. NAP inclusion's main goal was to develop a plan on how to increase economic and social equality. The Department of Social Protection has a multitude of resources to help the welfare state that can be found on their website. For this page the main purpose will be how Ireland puts into action different measures for social protection and welfare.

Social welfare is classified into three main aspects to analyze:
 * 1) Social insurance payments
 * 2) Means-tested payments
 * 3) Universal payments

Social Insurance Payments (PRSI)
Given to people who satisfy social insurance contribution conditions, this falls under the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. All employee and employers between the ages of 16 and 66 are obligated to pay PSRI. The contribution you pay depends on your earnings and occupation and therefore it is called a Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contribution with 11 different pay scales. Only those who pay the PRSI in full are eligible to receive the full benefits, these people are classified as Class A. Fortunately, most citizens pay class A PRSI and therefore receive full benefits later in life or when social insurance payments are needed. The following are categorized under the social insurance fund:
 * Jobseeker's Benefit (JB)
 * Illness Benefit (IB)
 * Occupational Injuries Benefits (OIB)
 * Maternity Benefit
 * Adoptive Benefit
 * Health and Safety Benefit
 * Invalidity Pension
 * State Pension (Transition)
 * State Pension (Contributory)
 * Widow’s or Widower’s Contributory Pension
 * Treatment Benefit
 * Bereavement Grant
 * Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
 * Carer’s Benefit.

Means Tested Payments
In order to qualify for these types of social insurance payments, all sources of income, with some exceptions, are taken into consideration in order for the state to determine whether or not an individual qualifies for means tested income assistance .For individuals with not enough pay related social insurance to qualify for social insurance payments. Ireland has a very comprehensive means-tested payments, often targeting specific groups which are commonly small. When comparing different country's mean tested supplemental incomes, it is most often pointed to the fact on how many people are on the mean tested supplemental income as an indicator of how successful it is. The means tested payments are very similar to the social insurance payments but are for people that maybe did not contribute to the social insurance fund and are therefore not eligible to receive those types of payments. The following are categorized under the means tested / social assistant payments: The following cash allowances are provided by the Health Service Executive:
 * Jobseeker's Allowance (JA)
 * One Parent Family Payment (OPFP)
 * Disability Allowance (DA)
 * Carer’s Allowance
 * State Pension (Non-Contributory)
 * Widow’s or Widower’s Non-Contributory Pension
 * Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
 * Blind Pension
 * Farm Assist
 * Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA).
 * Infectious Diseases Maintenance Allowance
 * Blind Welfare Allowance
 * Rehabilitation Training Bonus
 * Domiciliary Care Allowance.

Universal Payment
Given to individuals regardless of income or social insurance record. This is a controversial topic in Irish politics right now. There is no current universal payment as of yet. In simple terms, a universal basic income (UBI) is an income which is provided without conditions to every adult and child. It would replace most welfare benefits and guarantees a standard amount to every citizen, regardless of need. While the universal payment can encourage entrepreneurship it can also cause the working population to grow stagnant and complacent which consequently will make an inefficient workforce.