While problems in the housing system in Ireland have been under the spotlight for the last decade, relatively little attention has been paid to the experience of children and to the consequences of housing issues for child development. International research has highlighted a range of effects of poor housing on children. Poor physical housing conditions has been associated with respiratory illnesses and childhood accidents. Overcrowding has been linked to poorer educational outcomes and deprived neighbourhood conditions to socio-emotional problems. Frequent residential mobility has also been found to lead to poorer cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. However, there is a lack of evidence on how far these findings apply in Ireland where levels of home ownership are high and levels of neighbourhood segregation are lower.

This study addresses this gap. Drawing on data from the ’08 Cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study, we explore the housing conditions faced by children in early and middle childhood and the implications of these housing experiences for their cognitive, socio-emotional and health outcomes. This study adopts a multidimensional approach to assessing housing quality, including housing tenure, exposure to poor housing conditions (such as damp), living in accommodation that is too small for family needs, living in settings that are not child-friendly, having to go without adequate heating for financial reasons, residential mobility and living in a neighbourhood characterised by disorder (such as graffiti and public drinking or drug-taking).