A research centre to improve support and outcomes for children and their families was unveiled by President Mary McAleese today.
The Child and Family Research Centre, at the National University of Ireland, Galway, will advance practice and policy in Ireland and internationally, through research, evaluation and service development.
Speaking this afternoon Mrs McAleese said: "This Centre is part of the new Ireland we now dare confidently to dream of, the problem-solving Ireland, the caring Ireland where we are watching out for our most vulnerable children from their earliest days and helping to surround them with the family scaffolding every child needs to grow safely through adolescence into adulthood.
"If any society has a core, a basic building block, then ours are the child and the family. They are both bewilderingly complex and contradictory, at once amazingly resilient and yet frighteningly vulnerable.
"'The children and families who remain locked in a cycle of poverty and disadvantage need our best efforts to help them join the flotilla of boats on that rising tide," the President added. "We know the earlier the intervention offered, the better are the chances of escape to a fulfilled and happier life."
Centre director Dr Pat Dolan said there is a need for more research that focuses on finding ways to support children and families in crises and prior to the escalation of problems.
"While social difficulties such as child poverty, youth suicide and violence within families are often brought to public attention, solutions to these problems are neither highlighted nor adequately shared among interested stakeholders, including families themselves," he said.
Earlier this year, the Child and Family Research Centre was awarded significant support from Atlantic Philanthropies Ireland under its Disadvantaged Children and Youth Programme.
PA