226. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the name, costs, date of commission, date or expected date of publication and name of the external consultant of all external reports commissioned by his Department since March 2011. [3762/16]

In order to deliver key commitments in relation to children and young people and to put in place a unified framework of policy, legislation and provision across Government in respect of children and young people, it is at times necessary to commission reports and utilise expertise from a range of expert individuals and bodies. My Department ensures that all reports commissioned are of direct relevance to the operational and policy commitments of my Department.

I have set out as follows the full range of external consultant reports commissioned by my Department. Costs may include, where applicable, copy editing, design and other costs relating to publication. Separate material is provided in respect of the Growing Up in Ireland study.

Growing Up in Ireland

In 2006 a contract to carry out the first phase the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland was awarded by the Department of Health and Children (through the Office of the Minister For Children & Youth Affairs) to a consortium comprising of the ESRI and the Children’s Research Centre at TCD. Since then the Study has adopted the working title of 'Growing Up in Ireland'. Following another public procurement competition a contract was awarded to the ESRI/TCD consortium to carry out the second phase of the study over the period 2015-2019. As part of the overall contracts the ESRI/TCD are required to prepare and publish reports from time to time. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs meets the costs of printing these reports and since this Department was established in June 2011 the total cost of printing is €31,967.14.