Context for a new Growing Up in Ireland cohort

Much has changed in the national and international contexts since Cohort 08 turned

3 years old in 2011, and may change even further by the time Cohort 24 turn 3 years

in 2027. Major events with repercussions for Ireland included Brexit, the Covid-19

pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The evolving digital context is also

noteworthy: smartphones and tablets were still a relatively new phenomenon when

Cohort 08 were aged 3 (the Apple iPhone was launched in 2007 and the first

generation iPad went on sale in 2010) but almost ubiquitous for the parents of

Cohort 24.

In 2021, the Irish government ran a large-scale public consultation asking for ideas

and priorities in relation to future research called ‘Creating Our Future’. The call was

completely open, and not focused on children or a particular discipline. Over 18,000

submissions were received and analysed by expert panels to reflect the Irish public’s

input into shaping research priorities. Some of the main themes relevant to young

children that emerged from the public consultation were mental health, exposure to

the digital world, and education for children with disabilities. In the commentary from

the expert report (Hogan et al. 2022), one of the conclusions was a need for more

research on ‘the future of parenting’ (p.21). The Growing Up in Ireland study was

name-checked in the consultation as part of the research infrastructure which could

be utilised to respond to the public’s research priorities (p.19).

In preparation for the new Growing Up in Ireland birth cohort specifically, the

Government of Ireland – through the Research and Evaluation Unit at DCEDIY –

commissioned a scoping review from independent researchers based at University

College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. This review (Counihan et al. 2023)

summarised the main rationale for a new cohort followed longitudinally as (a) being

the best mechanism for making cause-and-effect inference, especially in terms of

policy initiatives; (b) major changes in Irish demography including inward migration

and same-sex marriage; (c) increased policy focus on traditionally marginalised groups

such as Travellers and Roma; (d) recent methodological advances associated with

cohort studies like Growing Up in Ireland such as online surveys, smartphone apps

and ‘wearables’;2 (e) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; (f) the potential for data

linkage (nationally) and data harmonisation with similar international studies.

1.2 Changing demographic context