Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2013
530. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she and-or her Department continue to monitor the most commonly mentioned issues affecting the general well-being of young persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54370/13]
View answerMy Department publishes a biennial State of the Nations Children report which aims to describe the lives of children in Ireland, to track changes over time and to benchmark the progress of children in Ireland relative to other countries. The report focuses specifically on children's outcomes (including health, educational and social, emotional and behavioural), children’s relationships with family and friends and children’s services and supports.
The first “State of the Nation’s Children” report was produced in 2006 and three further publications have issued since then. The report is based on a National Set of Child Well-being Indicators. These indicators were developed in 2005 through a consultative process with multiple stakeholders, including children themselves. The indicator set is comprised of over 50 individual indicators which are reported on using previously published data. It is intended that these indicators will be reviewed and updated. The next State of the Nation’s Children Report is due to be published in 2014.
As well as reporting on the national set of well-being indicators, my Department also manages the “National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland” (NLSCI).
The purpose of the research is ‘to study the factors that contribute to or undermine the well-being of children in contemporary Irish families; and through this, contribute to the setting of effective and responsive policies relating to children and to the design of services for children and families’.
The study monitors the development of almost 20,000 children – an infant cohort of approximately 11,100 children aged nine months and a child cohort of 8,570 children aged nine years.
- The infant cohort includes 1 in every 5 children born over the period 1st December 2007 and 30th June 2008.
- The child cohort included around 1 in every 6 nine-year old children in Ireland at the time of the first wave of data collection (which took place from May 2007 and September 2008).
The first phase of the Growing Up in Ireland will conclude in 2014 and it is intended to put in place a new contract to continue monitoring the study children into later life.
My Department is committed to continuing the Growing Up in Ireland Study, to provide high quality data on a whole range of child outcomes, and arrangements are underway to commission a second phase of the study to ensure that this rich data source is continued and built upon.
