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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Feb 2002

Vol. 549 No. 3

Written Answers. - ESRI Report.

Eamon Gilmore

Question:

72 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on the ESRI report, Family Formation in Ireland. Trends, data needs and implications; if the Government has given approval for the proposed national longitudinal study of children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6602/02]

The report Family Formation in Ireland. Trends, data needs and implications was commissioned by my Department under the families research programme, which I launched in 1999 to support research into all areas of family life to inform the future development of policy and services.

"Family Formation in Ireland" is a clear example of the benefits of having a quality research programme. This excellent report has analysed the major recent trends in family formation in Ireland and drawn out the implications for the future direction of family policy. The researchers have provided an overview of issues faced by families in modern Ireland, concentrating on three key areas; fertility decline, lone parenthood and changes in household and family size.

The messages from the research signal the continuing challenge to policy makers to meet the changing needs of families' today including the need to invest in support for large families, and the need to strengthen and support marriage and relationships and prevent breakdown.

These messages validate this Government's Families First approach to policy and services development which encompasses a range of measures and programmes to protect the family, support the stability of family life and prevent marital breakdown and address the effects of divorce on families.

The principal recommendation in the report, Family Formation in Ireland, relates to improving the range and accessibility of information being collected at present and addressing shortcomings in existing data collection. The prospective National Longitudinal Study of Children and the Families Research Programme are mentioned as significant initiatives to improve the knowledge base.

The benefits of a national longitudinal study, which would follow a large cohort of children from birth through to adulthood, was highlighted by the Commission on the Family in its report to Government "Strengthening Families for Life" in 1998 and echoed in the National Children's Strategy, "Our Children, Their Lives," published by the Government in 2000. Such a study would be a major undertaking but the information it would yield could be invaluable in terms of what it would tell us about how children from different backgrounds fare out in the longer term and how the State can better support families.
A design brief, commissioned by my Department, together with the Department of Health and Children, setting out what would be involved in undertaking a major study of children in Ireland has recently been completed by a consortium of researchers in Ireland. It is my intention, with the Minister for Health and Children, to bring the proposals to Government for consideration within a matter of weeks.
Question No. 73 answered with Question No. 55.
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