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Using data from Ireland's national longitudinal study of children, this paper employs a capabilities approach to disability to understand how individual characteristics as well as home and school environmental factors at age 9 relate to academic and socio-emotional outcomes of students with special educational needs (SEN) at age 17. Results suggest that young people with SEN register both lower average scores and make less academic progress between the age of 9 and their national lower secondary examination, with the exception of young people with a physical SEN. Both home and school environmental factors at 9 years have long-term associations with the academic outcomes of young people with SEN, after controlling for individual characteristics and prior academic achievement. Home and school environmental factors had less consistent associations with the socio-emotional outcomes of young people with SEN. By using rigorous nationally representative longitudinal data, this paper offers a more holistic understanding of the development of young people with SEN. The paper also provides important evidence that a more inclusive approach for supporting students with additional needs, their parents, and their schools is needed.

This paper draws on longitudinal data to examine the extent to which parents' educational expectations shape academic development and changes in self-concept among young people with different types of disability. The analysis is based on the "Growing Up in Ireland" longitudinal study, which tracked 7423 children between the primary to secondary school years, 21% of whom were identified with one of four main disability types. Our conceptual framework assumes that parental expectations at age 9 will be influenced by both the child's disability and child's academic achievement at that stage, as well as being influenced by other factors such as parent's own education, family economic vulnerability, family relationships and family structure. Therefore, we take these factors into account in tracing the consequences of parental expectations at age 9, on academic and social outcomes at age 13 after the transition to secondary education. Among young people with a disability, poorer self-concept at age 13 is partly explained by lower parental expectations, particularly for those with general learning and emotional/behavioural disabilities. Similarly, parental expectations are a significant influence on children's academic outcomes and partly explain the effects of disability status on academic development. Parents' beliefs about their children's abilities have a strong influence on achievement and self-concept, raising important issues around the need to promote equality of opportunity, raising awareness of the educational opportunities available, promoting positive expectations and engagement with school and the importance of promoting a range of opportunities for achievement.

Background While perinatal mortality rates have decreased in Ireland in recent years, it is not known if this reduction was shared equally among all groups. The aim of this study is to examine inequalities in perinatal mortality by country of birth and socio-economic group in Ireland between 2004 and 2019. Methods Data for the analysis was obtained from the National Perinatal Reporting System dataset, which includes all births (including stillbirths) in Ireland. The rate and risk ratios for perinatal death were calculated for mothers' socio-economic group and country of birth for two time periods (2004–11 and 2012–19). Adjustment was made for mothers' age, marital status, parity and country of birth/socio-economic group. A total of 995 154 births and 5710 perinatal deaths were included in the analysis. Results With the exception of African born mothers, the perinatal mortality rate decreased for all groups over time; however, inequalities persisted. Relative to Irish born mothers, the risk for African born mothers increased from 1.63 to 2.00 over time. Adjusting for other variables including socio-economic status reduced but did not eliminate this elevated relative risk. Mothers who were classified as unemployed or engaged in home duties had a higher risk of a perinatal death relative to higher professional mothers, with the relative risk remaining relatively constant over time. Conclusions Reducing inequalities in health is a key objective of the Irish government. Further research is required to identify why perinatal mortality continues to be higher in some groups so that targeted action can be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use Irish data to simulate the impact of housing supplements (like HAP and RAS) on deprivation. We consider this effect overall and for different social risk groups, using the SILC dataset. We also compare the predicted deprivation of housing supplement recipients to the predicted deprivation of Local Authority tenants. Housing supplements are designed to cover the housing needs of vulnerable families in the private rental sector and many of these supplements provide important support. We find that housing supplements are more common among vulnerable social risk groups; lone parents and the unemployed are the most likely to receive these. We also find that recipients of housing supplements have similar rates of predicted deprivation when compared to those in Local Authority housing. Finally, we show that the predicted probability of deprivation falls after we consider the impact of these on a respondent's total equivalised income. This effect is particularly large for vulnerable groups like lone parents. The paper helps to understand the importance of housing supplements as a means of reducing deprivation, and the social risk differences in this effect. Debate on the topic of housing supplements has focused on the transfers' costs to the Exchequer, but their efficacy as a form of social protection has been less examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has a particularly high level of inequality in incomes from the market, before redistribution by transfers and direct taxes, and also a very high level of household joblessness. How much does the latter serve to explain the former? We assess this by comparing Ireland in depth with five comparator countries: France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Decomposition of the Gini coefficient by income source shows the dominant role played by income from labour in market income inequality in all these countries. Decomposition of Generalised Entropy measures and counterfactual shift-share exercises based on them show that Ireland's high proportion of working-age households with no earner is indeed an important contributor to its ranking in terms of market income inequality. However, relatively high levels of dispersion in earnings within one-earner and two-earner households also contribute and their drivers need to be better understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]