THE importance of involving the public in the work of the newly formed Commission on the Family cannot be overemphasised, the Minister for Social Welfare said yesterday.
Mr De Rossa was speaking at a conference of representatives of voluntary bodies working with the family held to invite submissions to the commission.
The commission would set the agenda for the family for decades to come, said Mr De Rossa, and it was important that the debate be wide and well informed. There had been a lot of argument and controversy about the family. The commission aimed not to exclude any kind of family.
"Over the past 10 to 20 years many of the social indicators in our society, the birth rate, the participation of women in paid employment, the marriage rate, the number of children born to unmarried women, have changed dramatically. People now have more choice about lifestyle, education and where to live. Economically we are better off too.
"However, unemployment and social deprivation persist Families in these situations are particularly vulnerable to social and economic pressures."
Commission chairman Dr Michael Dunne also emphasised the rapidity of social change affecting the family. "Because the change has been so rapid, it is not yet assimilated and is often perceived as threatening," he said.
Therefore an important part of the commission's work was research into the situation of the family in Ireland and the pressures on it. "Towards this end, the commission is fortunate to have obtained the services of both the Family Studies Centre of University College, Dublin, and the ESRI," he said.
These bodies, through the work of Dr Tony Fahey of the ESRI and Prof Gabriel Kiely and Dr Valerie Richardson of UCD, will produce a review of the demography of the family, the legal background affecting it, taxation, social welfare and education.
This would include a report on the literature and an annotated bibliography of all Irish research work on the family, he said.
Documents dealing with family issues, from the Kilkenny incest report to Combat Poverty reports and that of the Committee on Taxation, would, all be studied.
The commission is seeking submissions on issues such as childcare, financial support, education and health, marriage breakdown and poverty from families and from individuals and groups working with or with an interest in family affairs. As well as placing advertisements asking for people's views and circulating leaflets, a freephone number, 1800 305500, has been opened to advise people on submissions.
The commission will report to the Government by June 1997.