John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the plans she has to examine the impact of consumerism and the media on children; the action she has in mind in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26063/11]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the forthcoming national children's strategy 2012 to 2017 will include a commitment to develop a comprehensive national plan for early childhood care and education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26000/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 78 together.

My Department is developing a new strategy for children and young people. The strategy will build on Our Children - Their Lives, Ireland's first children's strategy which was published in 2000 and it will cover the period from 2012 to 2017.

The new strategy is being developed in a holistic way to comprehend the continuum of the life course from infancy, through early and middle childhood, to adolescence through to early adulthood, in keeping with my Department's responsibilities for children and young people. The strategy will have a specific focus on the aspects of growth and development that are unique to each time period and the policies and services that need to be prioritised at each stage to secure good outcomes for children and young people.

The new strategy for children and young people will be the overarching framework under which policy and services for children and young people will be developed and implemented in the State. Early childhood care and education is a key commitment in the Government for National Recovery programme. The future direction of early childhood care and education policy is set out in recent policy commitments developed by my Department with the Department of Education and Skills such as the free preschool year in Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme, Síolta, and Aistear, the Workforce Development Plan for the early education sector and the recently launched National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. I intend to build on these initiatives in formulating a national plan for the development of early childhood care and education.

It is clear from both the research evidence and what children and young people have to say that there are a number of new and emerging issues which are impacting upon their lives. Prominent social policy concerns relate to childhood obesity and child poverty and it is evident that aspects of consumerism are impacting on children's experience of growing up. Children and young people participating in Dáil na nÓg have voiced their concerns about being negatively represented in the media and they have spoken about the pressures they experience to conform to idealised body images portrayed in media. The impact of consumerism, in its various forms, has been identified for further investigation in my Department's work to improve data and research on children lives. The development of the new children and young people's strategy provides an opportunity to focus on these issues and how they may be addressed to improve the experience of growing up in Ireland for this and future generations of children.

It is anticipated that the new children and young people's strategy will be published mid 2012.