Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013–2025, is the national framework for action to improve the health and wellbeing of the people in Ireland. The development of an Outcomes Framework to monitor and drive the achievement of Healthy Ireland’s targets and performance indicators is a key action identified in the Healthy Ireland Framework.

The Outcomes Framework aims to provide a structured approach to collect and report relevant and appropriate data which can be used to build awareness of these social determinants of health, to support assessment of the impact of policies on the agreed outcomes, and to monitor progress on the whole‑of‑government response needed to improve health and wellbeing.

The Healthy Ireland Outcomes Framework is based on a conceptual model for health and wellbeing which incorporates health status, health outcomes and determinants of health and wellbeing across the life course.

It acknowledges the interconnectedness and interdependencies between what we are trying to achieve in health and other policy areas such as education, employment, transport, environment, planning and social protection, where there are significant shared agendas. The range of indicators selected to support measurement of these outcomes work together to create an overall picture of health and wellbeing in Ireland.

P.7 Current Smoking Rate
This indicator measures the proportion of people who
smoke daily or occasionally.
Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease in society. It is a major risk factor for diseases of the heart and blood vessels, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cancers and other diseases. Smoking is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor; effective tobacco control measures can reduce the occurrence of smoking in the population.

Harmful Use of Alcohol
This indicator measures age‑standardised prevalence of heavy episodic drinking, defined as drinking 6 or more standard drinks in a single drinking occasion. Alcohol consumption is an important determinant of health and wellbeing. Overall, there are causal relationships between alcohol consumption and over 60 types of disease and injury.