Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 11 together.

The family continues to occupy a central and vitally important place in Irish society, and the quality of family relationships and factors within the home have a huge impact on children's development.

In many ways, some of the best descriptions we have seen about the experience of Irish children has been in the recent State of the Nation’s Children report, which gives us very valuable information about the quality of Irish children's experiences. There are some very good stories there about Irish childhood. In addition, the vulnerabilities of certain children are highlighted in that report, as they are in the longitudinal studies now emerging. I repeat that it is very important that we now have our own Irish research telling us about Irish children, that more money has gone into Irish research and that we are not dependent on international research.

We are lucky in Ireland to have generally positive parent-child relationships. The State of the Nation's Children report found that 82% of children aged between ten and 17 reported that they find it easy to talk to their mothers when something is bothering them and that an increasing number speak to their fathers as well. A further report last year from Dr. Elizabeth Nixon based on Growing Up in Ireland data focused on how families matter for children's social and emotional well-being and highlighted again just how instrumental parents are in their children's development. We all know this intuitively but we now have the research that really goes into detail on parental relationships with children and how important they are for children's learning and social and emotional well-being.

Good parenting is critical for children's outcomes, which is why the area of family support is so important and will continue to be important in the new Child and Family Support Agency. Clearly, support to teenage parents is very important as well and this comes under the National Education Welfare Board, which will work with the family resource centres in the new agency.

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