The aim of this scoping document is to provide advice on approaching participative processes and initiatives in the most accessible and inclusive way possible.

This literature review examines the available evidence concerning the participation of disabled children and young people in decision-making. This evidence is needed in order to inform the development of a toolkit on how to meaningfully and effectively involve disabled children and young people in the decision-making process and approach participative consultations and initiatives in the most accessible and inclusive way possible.

This is the second report produced as part of the RITEC project. The first report, produced in 2022, explored the question: what does well-being mean to children in a digital age? This first-phase report is also available for download.

Beyond Limits is the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) event for children and young people with disabilities and their families. It aims to show them the opportunities open to them, talk about the issues they want to talk about, and highlight inclusiveness. With Beyond Limits, we want to show how a fully inclusive event can be the rule and not the exception.

This chapter discusses current practice and opportunities to strengthen evidence-based approaches to policymaking and service delivery for children and young people in Ireland. It analyses capacity among government departments and agencies to collect, utilise and share evidence that is disaggregated by age and other identity factors and coordinate research within the framework of the Children and Young People (CYP) Indicator Set, with a focus on mapping the needs of vulnerable groups of children and young people. It also discusses the collection of evidence through involving children, young people, and civil society in policymaking, as well as the development of regulatory impact assessments to anticipate child and youth outcomes ex ante.

This report considers the participation of our youngest citizens from birth to 5 years and how this can be embedded in early childhood education and care in Ireland. Limitations of existing research have been highlighted by Correia et al. (2019) who state that there was no systematic review mapping international empirical research on young children’s right to participate in ECEC settings. Even that systematic review focuses on 3–6-year-olds and does not include very young children, nor did it include children with special needs. This literature review explores issues relating to what Cassidy et al (2022) describe as a complex, challenging and under researched area. It is understood that there is no such thing as children’s ‘voice’, rather children have a multiplicity of voices and these can be accessed in a variety of ways (O’Toole and Hayes, 2020). Given this understanding, practices need to be developed to support children’s participation from the earliest age. The aim of this literature review, then, is to provide policymakers and early years educators with a synthesis of the existing research in the field, allowing for a deeper understanding of current thinking with a comprehensive evidence-base on participation-related ideas, practices and outcomes in early years, highlighting state of the art and informing possible pathways to move the field forward.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and Hub na nÓg established an Early Years Working Group (EYWG) during 2021 to develop guidance for consulting with children and babies aged birth to 5 years. The EYWG was comprised of stakeholders from the policy, academic, creative, and early learning, and care sectors with expertise in the area. The remit of the EYWG was to consider existing research and resources on the participation of children and babies aged birth to 5 years in participation in decision-making and identify gaps in addition to piloting methodologies that enable the participation of young children in decision-making.

In the years since the last Children’s Report, children’s lives in Ireland have undoubtedly changed significantly. As with the rest of the world, the Covid 19 pandemic hit children in Ireland hard.

The paper questions whether existing understanding of children’s participation in early childhood education may extend beyond what is required by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.