A national study of 18,000 children to be carried out over seven years would have major benefits and improve the lives of Irish children, a Canadian expert said.
At a conference in Dublin yesterday 100 senior policy-makers, researchers and other representatives of interested parties were told the results of a Canadian study of children ahead of the Irish project, which is expected to begin next year.
A spokeswoman for the National Children's Office, which is funding the study with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, said the aim of the Irish study was to examine the factors which contributed to, or undermined, the well-being of children in contemporary Irish families.
The results would contribute to the setting up of effective and responsive policies relating to children and to the design of services for children and their families, she said.
"It is anticipated that 10,000 children from birth and 8,000 children aged nine will be recruited to participate in this study, and an initial contract spanning seven years awarded with two major data collection sweeps undertaken in that time period," she said. This was one of the most significant pieces of research on children to be undertaken in the Republic, she added.
Expressions of interest to undertake the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland were currently being sought.
Yesterday, Dr Satya Brink, director of national learning policy research at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, said the Irish study would yield major benefits.
The Canadian study helped to provide an evidence base for policy-making in Canada and, in doing so, improved the lives of Canadian children, she said.
"The study, which was about the experience of growing up in Canada, allowed us to look at children in different communities and examine how services and where they were provided, affected outcomes."
Congratulating the Irish Government on its decision to undertake the study of children in Ireland, Dr Brink said: "International comparisons are important in this globalised time, and I hope that such comparisons will be possible between the Canadian and the Irish surveys.
"We can all learn from each other."