A research programme which will yield an unprecedented amount of information about Irish children and teenagers was announced yesterday by two Government Ministers.
The programme will track the experiences of 18,000 children as they grow up, providing a new way of assessing what policies are working or failing, how children are being helped or hindered by the environment in which they grow up and what can be done to improve their chances in life.
Treoir, a non-governmental body which promotes the interests of lone-parent families, welcomed the establishment of the study, for which it has been campaigning, although it pointed out that it had begun its campaign 25 years ago.
Such longitudinal studies have been a feature of research into children in other countries. Issues on which they can throw light include:
The extent to which children from one type of background have an advantage/disadvantage in relation to others and how this can be changed, for instance by improving nutrition or educational provision.
The number of children who live in one-parent families and whether their wellbeing differs from that of children in two-parent families.
How the health of children is influenced by immunisation.
What factors might account for children of the same backgrounds taking different paths as regards employment, criminality or early pregnancy.
"The absence of research about the lives of children in Ireland has led us to rely on international material," the Minister for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, said yesterday.
"This study means that Irish information about Irish children can influence Irish policies," she added.
"The study will provide invaluable information on children and their families which will assist in the future development of family policy in Ireland", said Mr Dermot Ahern, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs.
Treoir's chairwoman, Ms Eilis Walsh, said that the organisation welcomed the announcement "with a great sense of celebration and satisfaction".
Its first chairman, Dr Dermot Walsh, had conceived the idea of having such a study established in Ireland and had campaigned for it at every opportunity, she said.
"We cannot say with any accuracy exactly how many children are living in one-parent families, or how long they spend in a one-parent family. In addition, there is no national information on how children fare in terms of general health and emotional wellbeing," Ms Walsh said.
The study will monitor the development of 18,000 children from different backgrounds (10,000 from birth and 8,000 nine-year-olds) through to adulthood.
It will "yield important information about each significant transition throughout their young lives", yesterday's announcement said.
"It will seek to identify the circumstances which allow children to thrive and those which hinder children's development."
The study was proposed in the National Children's Strategy and in the Report of the Commission on the Family.