The largest and longest research project into the lives of Irish children is to get under way next year.
The longitudinal study will track the lives of 18,000 children - 8,000 from the age of nine and 10,000 from birth - and is to be overseen by the National Children's Office.
Ms Frances Spillane, director of the office, said yesterday that her staff were given Cabinet approval last year for the project, and that it would be put out to EU-wide tender later this year.
"We have been granted €2 million in funding for the project. It is going to be huge and very exciting."
The study will be similar to the British 7 UP project which began in the 1960s and which took a number of children from the age of seven, tracking their lives and revisiting them at seven-year intervals to compare their progress.
The Irish project will be an innovative way of tracking children, taking their views into account, seeing how services and interventions work for children, said Ms Spillane.
Asked whether any of the project would be recorded for television, as in the 7 Up series, she said there were no plans to do so at this stage.
Ms Spillane was speaking to The Irish Times after the formal opening in Dublin yesterday of a new Children's Consultation Unit. The unit, established by the ISPCC last year, aims to assist any organisation wishing to establish children's consultation structures and mechanisms.
Under the auspices of the 2000 National Children's Strategy, the unit aims this year to support County and City Development Boards (CCDBs) to organise Comhairle na nÓg.
These are fora for young people to express their views.
The chief executive of the ISPCC, Mr Paul Gilligan, said many people still asked why society should listen seriously to children and young people."Well, the ISPCC believes it is a crucial area.
"One, because it acknowledges children as full citizens, citizens who not only need to be protected, but as citizens who can, and should, have a full and active roll in their futures.
"And two, because a growing number of children are becoming socially isolated, who might be coming from families and areas that have been socially isolated, and these children are the ones who are vulnerable to getting involved in alienated and anti-social behaviour. Any mechanism that can involve and engage these young people is worth investing in."
Yesterday's event was chaired by Andrew Farrell (16), from Balbriggan, Co Dublin, and Ryan Fitzpatrick (12), from Christchurch, Dublin.
Further information on the Children's Consultation Unit available from ISPCC on (01) 679 4944 and (021) 4962949.
