Taking the Well-being Project Forward

This section provides an overview of how the Irish Well-being Framework will be embedded into the policy-making system over time. This process will take time and patience.

Ireland is at a relatively early stage of this work. A lot has been achieved with the development of a Conceptual Framework and accompanying interactive dashboard supported by two phases of consultation and bespoke research. The steps outlined below provide an outline of the next phase of work, rooted in ensuring that sustainable well-being for Ireland becomes an important part of the policy-making process over time.

This cross-Government initiative will continue to be led by the Department of the Taoiseach, jointly sponsored by the Departments of Finances and Public Expenditure & Reform.

In line with international practice, the Framework should be reviewed, with supporting consultation, approximately every 4-5 years.

Understanding Life in Ireland- Embedding a Well-Being Approach

Through promoting a better understanding of life and progress in Ireland, Ireland’s Well-being Framework can provide objective simultaneous evaluation of competing priorities such as the climate, housing, education, and health. By facilitating broad sustainability considerations and drawing out inequalities it provides insights into intergenerational considerations and people’s lived experiences and how they differ.

Embedding a well-being approach over time will be achieved through a number of parallel streams. High-level annual analysis of the well-being dashboard will help inform the context and priority consideration phase of the Budgetary process. Complementing this will be the continued exploration of a Well-being perspective into expenditure and policy evaluation, building on performance and equality budgeting. The Well-being initiative will be further advanced over time through the development of a broader evidence base and research tools. Clear oversight structures and approaches for well-being across Government will support progress.

Feeding into High-Level Budget Priorities:

In 2022, the Well-being Framework and the analysis of the accompanying dashboard featured in the Budgetary process. It was a theme at the National Economic Dialogue in June, and an updated version of the analysis also featured in the Summer Economic Statement and in Budget Day documentation through a new publication entitled ‘Budget 2023: Beyond GDP – Quality of Life Assessment’. It is intended that this will be an annual contribution to the Budget process, which will support a broader discussion of the impacts of Budgetary decisions.

In summary this contribution will include:

• Annual high-level analysis of the Well-being Dashboard will be conducted and published at an early stage of the budget process. This will provide high-level evidence and context for the identification of potential priorities, highlighting progress or lack thereof across a wide range of policy issues that are important for longer-term quality of life and sustainability over the medium-term. It will serve as a complement to standard economic and fiscal reporting.

• The analysis will explicitly feed into the Annual National Economic Dialogue, which will include a focus on relevant Well-being issues, to help inform budgetary discussions across economic, social, and environmental factors.

• Budget Day documentation will include the most up-to-date version of the Well-being dashboard.

Well-being Framework and the Expenditure Report

The Department of Public Expenditure & Reform is developing an initiative that will set out an initial approach to using the well-being framework to develop a cross-governmental description of resources.

The purpose of this initial approach is to inform subsequent discussions about how to best embed a well-being perspective into the expenditure side of the budgetary process.

Ireland’s Well-being Framework for Ireland can be used as a tool for understanding the impact of policies, high-level challenges or systems.

The continued development and promotion of such research tools using a well-being lens will be supported by individual Departments, NESC, IGEES and the Inter-Departmental Working Group on the Well-being Framework.

Linking in with other jurisdictions, where similar well-being initiatives are being advanced, can also provide opportunities for sharing research, approaches and learnings.

By promoting the use of the Well-being Framework in research and analysis, and through related initiatives to improve data over time right across the system, the practical use of the Framework will be re-enforced. As evidenced internationally, fully developing a Well-being approach and related data improvements are considerable pieces of work and require significant time and resources, and are best approached in a phased manner.

Ireland’s Well-being Framework has clear linkages with existing and emerging policies, strategies and initiatives right across Government. Departments will be encouraged to consider a Well-being approach in future work. A Well-being approach includes initiatives that acknowledge sustainable well-being as a policy goal, are focused on evidence and outcomes, and promote cross-Government work beyond traditional Departmental silos or policy areas.

Work will continue to support better outcome-focused data across Government. This includes encouraging Departments to develop, strengthen or formalise detailed frameworks or outcome-based indicator sets on specific policy areas or cohorts. This would support deeper understanding of policy areas that are not possible through the overarching Well-being Framework for Ireland alone. Using the Framework as an overarching type structure in policy research and analysis will also be actively encouraged.