Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Nov 2004

Vol. 591 No. 3

Child Care: Motion.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I move:

That Dáil Éireann,

—noting that

—over five years since the publication of the national child care strategy, child care provision is still, in the words of the strategy, "uncoordinated, variable in quality and in short supply";

—the Government's failure to ensure comprehensive child care provision, has negative consequences for children, women, families, society and the economy;

—the complete lack of adequate child care, including pre-school, after school and out of school child care, continues to restrict the participation of parents of young children, particularly women, in the workforce, education and training, as confirmed by the OECD thematic review of early childhood education and care policy in Ireland;

—delivery of child care places and improved infrastructure under the equal opportunities child care programme has been subject to long delays due to the protracted review of funding by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

—there is an urgent need to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for child care provision up to and beyond the completion of the equal opportunities child care programme in 2006; and

—the development of quality child care is self financing through increased tax returns from women's work and less dependency on social security.

—affirms that the State shall have the following goals, which the Government shall work to achieve within a definite timeframe to:

—enable all parents to reconcile their child care needs with participation in the labour force, education and training;

—enable all parents to exercise their choice to care for their children full-time up to one year of age;

—enable all parents to access affordable child care for their children;

—establish universal State provision of pre-school for all children from the age of three to five years; and

—establish universal provision of early childhood care and education based on the Swedish system.

—and calls on the Government, in the interim, to:

— harmonise maternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by increasing maternity leave to 26 weeks paid and 26 weeks unpaid;

—increase maternity benefit to 80% of earnings immediately;

—harmonise paternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by introducing paid paternity entitlements of two weeks per child;

—increase adoptive leave to 24 weeks paid and 26 weeks unpaid;

—introduce paid parental leave and legislate without further delay to implement the terms agreed in respect of parental leave under the Sustaining Progress agreement;

—assist parents with the cost of child care by increasing child benefit to €150 per month for the first and second child and to €185.50 for third and subsequent children and by increasing child dependent allowance to a single weekly figure of €26 for all recipients;

—introduce a child care supplement to be paid as a top-up for child benefit for under fives;

—increase revenue for the equal opportunities child care programme, including capital, staffing and operational funding and immediately expedite all outstanding applications which have been delayed due to the review of the programme;

—reinstate the crèche supplement and the VTOS child care supports, the cutting of which have caused severe hardship to parents and children in disadvantaged communities;

—raise awareness of and increase funding for the childminders' grant scheme;

—review the "Childcare Facilities: Guidelines for Planning Authorities" to assess effectiveness of the guidelines and investigate the possibility of introducing legislation in line with Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to require developers to construct child care facilities in housing developments and to transfer these to the ownership of the local authority upon completion; and

—bring forward legislation to effectively address the need for employers to share responsibility for provision of child care for their employees.

I will be sharing time with Deputies Crowe, Ferris, Finian McGrath, McHugh, Gormley and Eamon Ryan.

I welcome those who have travelled to attend tonight's debate. I extend a particularly warm welcome to those who have travelled from my constituency especially as this is a sad evening for Monaghan people. We have lost a dear friend and colleague this afternoon with the death of Monaghan town councillor, Gerry Loughran. I measc laochra na hÉireann go raibh a anam dílis.

There is no more important concern for parents, families, communities and our society than the care of our children. All parents aspire to the best quality of life for their children and make sacrifices in their own lives to ensure their children receive the best possible care and attention. However, now more than ever, the care of children is affected by the working lives of their parents. More people than ever before are working full-time and part-time in this State and there has never been a greater need for a comprehensive and accessible child care infrastructure.

The primary reason for that demand is not the requirement of industry for more labour or of parents for the opportunity to work. No, the primary reason for demanding child care provision is the right of all children to proper care. Everybody in this society must share responsibility for vindicating that right, which is at the core of the motion we are presenting. This is a quality of life issue. It is, first, about the quality of life of children who deserve the best care at all times. It is about the quality of life of parents who should be able to spend as much time as possible with their children, especially during their first three years. It is about whether we as a society value quality of life above the current drive for material gain and the greed of the Celtic tiger.

In Éirinn na linne seo tá brú mór ar thuismitheoirí, ach go háirithe ó thaobh chostais na tithíochta de. Bíonn ar an mbeirt tuismitheoir, ma tá beirt ann, dul amach ag obair go lán-aimseartha chun na morgáiste a íoc. Bíonn sé deacair orthu ach go háirithe nuair atá páistíóga acu.

If our society is judged by the quality of its health services and of its care of children, we fall short of the highest standards. In 1999 the national child care strategy was published and it stated that child care in this State was "uncoordinated, variable in quality and in short supply". Five years later that is still the reality. After seven years in office this Government has failed to ensure comprehensive child care provision. The lack of comprehensive child care is restricting the participation of parents of young children, especially women, in the workforce, in education and in training.

Child care is nominally within the remit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. With all due respect to those in the Department who work on the issue, it is totally inappropriate for that Department to be responsible for this vital area. The child care issue is clearly not a priority for the Minister, Deputy McDowell, and it should be taken out of his hands and out of his Department.

However, it is not only the Minister who sees child care as a low priority. This Government's abysmal record is visible to all. There is a shortage of pre-school, after school and out of school child care places. Many of the places that do exist are beyond the affordable reach of most parents.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has pointed out that for many working parents the cost of child care is now second only to mortgage payments as the biggest weekly expense. Indeed, it has been described as being like a second mortgage. That is confirmed by the survey carried out by the National Children's Nurseries Association. It shows that the average weekly cost of a full-time place is €156 for a private facility, €88 for a community place and €141 for the workplace.

Clearly these costs are crippling for many parents and totally prohibitive for others, with the result that many simply cannot exercise their option to take up full or part-time work, education or training. It is predominantly but not exclusively women who are barred in this way. Our economy is losing out hugely as a result. In the motion we argue that the development of quality child care is self financing through increased tax returns from those who, as a result, will be able to take up paid employment and less dependency on social welfare.

The Government's approach to child care is almost totally dependent on the equal opportunities child care programme which runs out in 2006. While much good work has been done under that programme — no doubt Government speakers will tell us about it ad nauseam— the programme cannot provide the comprehensive child care provision that is essential. The delivery of the programme has been fraught with problems. In the course of researching and framing this motion, many child care providers told us of the delays and excessive bureaucracy they have experienced. In fact, opportunities to provide extra child care places have been lost due to these delays.

I will just give one example from my constituency. It typifies the ramshackle nature of this Government's child care provision. Farney community crèche in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, operates out of three different buildings — one houses the crèche, another is rented for pre-school children and an after school club operates out of the local school. Early last year the community crèche identified a building in the town that would be suitable as a new home for these facilities. It put in an application for capital funding under the equal opportunities child care programme in May 2003 but, to date, has received no response from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. A full 17 months has passed and the people involved are disappointed and disheartened.

In March 2002, the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, visited Farney community crèche and I have a copy of the letter of thanks he sent to the crèche. He stated:

The [Equal Opportunities Childcare] Programme could not succeed without the dedication and commitment of those members of the local community involved in the management of childcare facilities in their area. . . . . I am aware that your Committee has plans for the further development of the service provided by the Farney Community Crèche and want to assure you that my Department will provide every assistance possible in enabling you to achieve your goals in this matter.

Fine words but the delivery has not happened. Similar experiences can be found throughout the country and throughout the region I represent, as the Border Counties Childcare Network can testify. The Government must increase revenue for the equal opportunities child care programme, including capital, staffing and operational funding, and it must expedite all outstanding applications which have been delayed due to the protracted review of the programme.

However, even that will not be enough. The programme alone cannot provide what is needed. A multifaceted approach is required. This is a motion, not a Bill or a detailed policy, but it outlines the range of measures that are required in the short and medium term. Paid maternity and paternity leave needs to be extended so that parents can spend the most vital formative months with their infant children. There are many families who would choose to rear their children on the income from one working parent, with the other parent caring full-time in the home. However, that option is now closed off for many families, primarily because of the outrageous cost of housing, with massive mortgages being serviced by two working incomes as a result of the disastrous housing policies of this Government.

Parents need assistance with the cost of child care. We propose substantial increases in child benefit and child dependent allowance and the introduction of a child care supplement to be paid as a top-up in child benefit for under fives. Others have proposed tax credits for child care costs and capitation grants for child care places. These and other options need to be considered and, in all this, it is essential that disadvantaged communities and families on low income are not excluded. Of course, this Government is good at excluding people. The petty and penny pinching 16 cuts last year, including in crèche supplement and VTOS child care support, were perfect examples of this Government's disposition. Parents and children lost out so the Department of Finance could save a miserly couple of million euro. Those cuts must be reversed.

Our motion sets out goals Government should work to achieve within a definite timeframe. We should look to the best practice in other countries and this is why we cite the example of Sweden, where child care provision is comprehensive and among the best in the world. We should strive for nothing less. We need to enable parents to reconcile their child care needs with participation in work, education and training. We need to allow parents to look after their children full-time up to one year of age. We should aim for accessible child care for all parents and for universal provision of early childhood care and education from the age of three to five years. We should aspire to the very best for our children and for our society. For that reason, I urge all Deputies to support the motion. I urge the Government representatives to abandon their amendment and to join us in a unanimous statement from this House of our commitment to child care needs into the future.

Mr. Crowe

The longer a child is poor, the greater the subsequent deprivation in later life and the greater likelihood of leaving school early, becoming unemployed or getting a low paid job. Some 66,000 children are currently living below the poverty line. Everyone agrees that education is the key that breaks the cycle that traps people in poverty and early intervention is also critical. Therefore, child care is an essential ingredient in breaking the cycle of social exclusion, poverty and disadvantage.

Government policy is to encourage more and more people to enhance their education, up-skill and hopefully move on to greater employment prospects. If one has a young family, the only way to access training, education or employment is by getting someone to care for one's children. This is the dilemma faced by tens of thousands of parents every day. Availability, location, suitability and cost are the other key elements. With regard to cost, Government adjustments were responsible for the short-sighted decision to remove hundreds of individuals or 20% of parents from vocational opportunities training scheme child care funding, despite this being a scheme specifically designed to help parents back into education and paid employment.

Just 4% of three year olds have received publicly funded pre-school education in Ireland compared to 90% in other European countries. Because of the extremely low base, we are playing catch-up in regard to facilities and new legislation requires suitably trained personnel. Community child care centres based in areas of high disadvantage also face other problems, even where suitable facilities exist, including the constant battle to generate funding to keep the centres open.

I am not aware of any community child care facility that is not experiencing problems relating to financial sustainability. The equal opportunities child care programme is currently undergoing a mid-term review and there is a complete lack of clarity as to the supports available to projects following their initial three year allocation. Similarly, the FÁS active labour market programme is under constant review and has experienced constant cutbacks.

The lack of clarity in long-term supports undermines the ability of projects to strategically plan for the future. One Tallaght child care centre has gone through seven managers in seven years, which reflects the instability in the sector. There are currently four mechanisms available to subsidise the cost of child care for families in disadvantaged communities: the EOCP, the FÁS active labour market programme, user purchase and private purchase. The EOCP has a cap on staffing grants of €65,000 per annum over three years, which is insufficient and is at the heart of the problems being experienced by child care providers.

Another factor is that without part-time community employment and those on job initiatives from FÁS, the child care centres as presently structured could not and would not exist. The child care centres' over-reliance on trainee and part-time workers because of the cap on staffing is unfair to the workers, interferes with their training and is another example of the stop-gap, short-term policy that permeates the whole sector.

The funding element is holding back the development of quality child care and needs to be addressed on a long-term basis. Private purchase is not an option in many disadvantaged areas because, increasingly, traditional groups establish their own child care facilities. User purchase is also a problem because the user in many disadvantaged areas cannot afford the service, and, with rising costs, the problem is getting worse.

I will provide one example for the Minister. One facility in Jobstown expects to receive €1.7 million in capital funding and staffing grants but, even with this, it will have to charge €130 to €140 per week. Those for whom this scheme is designed will not be able to afford the service. I know of another child care scheme in the Tallaght west area that charges €30 per week for shorter hours but is having extreme difficulties in finding clients to use the service. We are moving towards having facilities suitable for child care while pricing out the very people the schemes are designed to help. We need to assist parents with the cost of child care by increasing child benefit to €150 per month for the first and second child and to €150.50 for the third and subsequent children.

Mr. Ferris

I will raise a number of issues in support of my party's motion on the area of child care. One of the first issues that comes to mind is the withdrawal of the crèche supplement and child care support for people taking part in VTOS schemes. Last year, I dealt with a case in my constituency where a number of women were forced to give up places on schemes because their community employment supports had been withdrawn and they were unable to afford alternative child care. In effect, the cuts meant the women concerned had to reluctantly give up what was, for many, an important pathway back into the education system and the workforce.

What is more disgraceful is that these women came primarily from areas most in need. While they were from the 20% caught in the poverty trap and were determined to try to break out of this, the system prevented them from doing so. Apart from the potential improvement in their financial situation due to their participation, VTOS was an important means of facilitating people to once again become an integral part of the community in which their personal circumstances made them marginalised.

Another issue with which I and other Members who represent rural areas have to deal is a difficulty facing particular women in securing child care in more isolated areas. While many people still rely on extended families to look after their children and while this may be the best option in some circumstances, many people do not have that choice available to them. There is also the fact that this can place a burden on other family members in the absence of proper provisions.

A further issue that needs to be urgently addressed is the conditions of employment of people in the child care sector as it currently exists. I am aware of a number of cases where workers, almost exclusively young women, are employed at extremely low rates of pay. The recently formed child care professional association has taken up the cases of individual child care workers and hopes to pursue these through industrial relations channels. These workers are as entitled to proper recognition and protection as any other and I hope the issues involved are addressed.

The real way to ensure child care workers are not exploited is to make sure the sector is properly regulated. This is best achieved by increasing the State's responsibility for the sector, as proposed in this motion. If the State assumes its proper responsibilities in providing adequate child care places and ensuring that the sector is properly financially supported, this will stop being a sector in which there will be an incentive to provide cheap services at the expense of workers and children.

Much has been achieved in recent years in regulating the sector from the point of view of ensuring that only adequate, qualified and responsible people are allowed to run private services. The State should take the next logical step by assuming direct responsibility for the overall provision and administration of this vital area. We need to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to address the needs of children, as well as the mothers who are willing to contribute to our economy. These women are prepared to contribute, to pay their share and to help society but the system is preventing them from doing so. Provision for pre-school, after-school and out-of-school child care must be a right for both child and mother. Legislation must be introduced to address the need for employers to share responsibility for the provision of child care for employees. A large amount of work is needed to be done and the onus is on the House and the Government to address this matter.

Mr. Gormley

I wish to share time with Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

For the Chair's information the order is Deputies Finian McGrath, McHugh, Gormley and Eamon Ryan.

An Ceann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Gormley

I thank the proposers of this motion as it highlights a growing and significant problem that affects many young families. The family is central to the Constitution, yet for many parents with young children, life in modern Ireland means smaller families but limited and expensive child care, long hours of commuting and great financial pressures in paying mortgages. Few young couples can afford that one parent stay at home. This would be the ideal solution which would suit many mothers and their children and serve the needs of society. However, the Government's policies are not about serving society but the needs of the economy. Children are second class citizens under the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government. Some 46% of local authorities do not provide playgrounds. There are twice as many golf courses as playgrounds.

Mr. B. Lenihan

Every local authority received a playground grant this year. The Deputy should properly research his facts.

Mr. Gormley

The statistics show Ireland is not a child-friendly country and as such cannot be parent-friendly. It is unsafe for children to walk and cycle to school, yet we wonder how the problem of childhood obesity emerged. It is due to the lack of exercise and facilities.

While tax individualisation enticed more women out of the home, the extra money earned is spent on child care. For many working class families, the cost of monthly child care is the equivalent of a second mortgage. According to the Vincentian Partnership, for a couple or a lone parent with two children the greatest barrier to enhancing their capacity to improve their incomes is unaffordable child care. The ESRI recently published figures which showed a 2.5% drop in female workers between the ages of 20 and 24 and a 1.6% drop in those aged between 25 and 34 years. According to the ESRI this is the first time a drop in this category has occurred. The obvious conclusion for this is the lack of affordable child care.

It may also be the case that more women want to stay at home. The Green Party believes in providing parents with real choice and quality of life. Quality child care places that are accessible and affordable for parents must be provided for all children. However, statutory paid family-friendly policy must be established in private and public sector employment, starting in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Dáil Éireann is not a family-friendly institution. When I was first elected I was informed that it was only a matter of months before a crèche would be provided. My children are now too old to enjoy such a facility. Recently, I met a former Deputy who also campaigned for a crèche facility when she was first elected. Her child celebrated his 21st birthday recently. This highlights how long we have been waiting for the facility. Changes need to be made in Leinster Houses and we need to lead by example.

If ever the Green Party gets the opportunity to be in government, we will make important changes for child care provision. We will support the continued increase in child benefit as the most equitable way of providing support towards the cost of raising children. We will reverse the discriminatory policy of individualisation introduced by the former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy. We will also enshrine the right to part-time work within employment legislation in co-operation with employers. In addition, the Green Party will promote and support businesses which offer family-friendly flexibility time to parents at work. It is not a simple case of providing more child care places. A holistic approach is needed as the most important job anyone can do is raise children.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

I commend the Sinn Féin Members for tabling this motion allowing for this important and needed debate. However, I am critical of some aspects of the motion. Some of its sections could have come from a Government motion, particularly the section that sets out the goals to be established by the State for child care. These goals are again centred around economic issues. The main criticism of Government policy in child care is that it looks at the economic interests first, those of parents next and those of the child last. The priority must be to examine what is the best care we can give to the child. That must be the foundation block in our child care policy.

I would have preferred if the motion had set this out as its priority. If we get it right in the first five years of their lives, it will be easier from there on, as stated by Deputy Crowe. The motion does not set this out in express terms. To be child-centred must be the most important part of policy-making. Following this, we need to be parent-centred, find out what they want, and then we can worry about the economy. This is the exact opposite to what the Government does. For it, the economy comes first, parents second and the children's needs do not come into the equation.

It is hard to know what children need. However, we know they need access and time with their parents in their early years, and parents must be given the freedom to do so. Many people are stressed out working to pay ridiculous mortgages for the speculative housing boom created by the former Minister for Finance. This must be changed to allow parents time with their children in their early years. If they do not have the time, legislation must be introduced to provide part-time working rights for employees with young children. If the first three years of a child's life are the most important, why not have three year parental leave? There are cases where it is in the best interest of the parents and the children for the parents to avail of education and training outside work. A distinction should not be made that discriminates those parents who wish to spend time with their children in those first early years. As this does not come through strongly enough in the motion, I believe it is not properly child-centred.

The Lisbon Agenda is specific in terms of increasing the level of female participation in the workplace from below 50% to 60%. During the Irish Presidency of the EU, the agenda was the be-all and end-all, forever mentioned. Child care remains an economic issue when most of the crèches provided are situated on companies' premises. In certain cases, such as Leinster House, a drop-in facility may be appropriate. However child care and crèche provision must be community-based, equal and available to all, a social service. I agree with Deputy Ó Caoláin that it is not appropriate for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to handle this service. We can extend individualisation in the tax system to the social welfare system. Why should those who decide to stay at home be discriminated against? Why is it not valued as work? Looking after a young child can be the hardest yet most important work. This must be recognised as work, paid for through the social welfare system and enshrined in legislation. I am very pleased this debate has been brought forward but five minutes is a very short time to raise the points one wishes. I will leave it at that.

I would like to see some questioning of what is good for Irish children. It is important that we get the early years right. The Jesuits have a clever saying, "Give me the boy of seven and I will give you the man." They postulated that by the age of seven the person is formed for good or ill. They are just being smart in taking credit for all the good work that has been done, but they have not done anything; the real work is in getting the early seven years right.

The success of our economy is based on the work which was done for decades past by parents who provided the creative, secure, confident people that are driving this economy. I believe that, more than anything else, has been behind our success in recent years. We need to recognise this fact and the work that has been done and provide the proper opportunities for parents and others to provide the required child care. The Government is failing completely in that regard.

Mr. F. McGrath

I support the motion because I believe quality child care has a beneficial effect on children and poor quality child care has a negative effect on them. I urge the Minister to heed this.

Parents want to choose the best for their children. People working in child care need to be valued for the important service they provide. Quality child care systems are essential elements in the country's infrastructure and lack of accessible, affordable and quality child care is a major block to accessing work or training. These are the core issues in the motion which I firmly believe is child centred. I urge all Deputies to support the motion because it is a common sense one and the proposals we make are also based on common sense.

We need to work towards the objectives set out in the motion. This debate is part of the wider equality debate. We must enable all parents to reconcile their child care needs with participation in the labour force, education and training. We must enable them to exercise their choice to care for their children full-time up to one year of age. All parents should have access to affordable child care for their children. The State must provide universal pre-school for all children from the age of three to five years. We must establish universal provision of early childhood care and education based on the Swedish system. I welcome this section in the motion because it is most relevant. The Swedish system is proven internationally.

I strongly welcome the section which calls on the Government in the interim to harmonise maternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by increasing maternity leave to 26 weeks paid leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave. Maternity benefit should be increased immediately to 80% of earnings. We also need to harmonise paternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by introducing paid paternity entitlement to two weeks per child. We need to increase adoptive leave to 24 weeks paid leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave. I would also like to see the introduction of paid parental leave and legislation to implement without further delay the terms agreed in respect of parental leave under Sustaining Progress.

We should assist parents with the cost of child care by increasing child benefit to €150 per month for the first and second child and to €185.50 for the third and subsequent children. Child dependant allowance should be increased to a single weekly figure of €26 for all recipients. A child care supplement should be paid as a top-up for child benefit for under five year olds.

We also need to increase revenue for the equal opportunities child care programme, including capital, staffing and operational funding and immediately expedite all outstanding applications which have been delayed due to the review of the programme. I also call on the Minister to re-instate the crèche supplement and the VTOS child care supports, the cutting of which have caused severe hardship to parents and children in disadvantaged communities. These are the nuts and bolts of a sensible programme for change.

In a society which should value the care of children, it is inappropriate to continue with the expectation that parents pay the full cost of child care from their net income. I support the National Children's Nurseries Association in its four key demands. Parental expenditure on child care incurred while accessing work, education or training should be a deductible, tax credit-allowable expense. This is cited as one of the key measures in the National Child Care Strategy 1999. Parents and children deserve immediate action on this issue.

I agree that all child care rates should be charged on a sliding fee scale system with the State paying the balance at an agreed annual rate, irrespective of whether the service is private and is based in the community or the workplace. I support the proposal to extend paid maternity leave to one year, thus allowing mothers to stay with their babies for that period. Alternatively, paternity leave could be used in the final four months. I also support the notion of 14 weeks fully paid parental leave.

I support these proposals because of the benefits that would accrue from them. They support parents in regard to child care expenditure and in accessing work, training and education. They also support parents, particularly mothers, in their decision to return to work following maternity leave. In terms of the way society values people, we must examine the situation where a construction worker can start off at €35,000 per year, and good luck to him or her, but, in contrast, a fully trained child care worker may start on €18,000 a year and sometimes less. We have to nourish and value people who work with children, which is not the case at present. Some smart alecks appear to spend their lives slagging off child care workers and teachers generally, but most of them would not last five minutes in a classroom, never mind five hours. Society has to stand with the people who work with children and the Government has a duty to assist them.

We must support early intervention on child care, poverty and educational disadvantage. Thousands of four year olds in junior infants classes throughout the country are two to three years behind their middle income peers in reading, mathematics and other basis skills. They will spend the next five years trying to catch up. If the Government does not supply the necessary support in a wealthy economy, we will fail thousands of our young people and the cycle of poverty will continue. The failure to address poverty in a sustained, effective and meaningful way is one of the major failings of the Government over the past decade.

Despite the high level of economic growth which resulted in an increased number of people in employment and a dramatic decrease in unemployment, the numbers living in relative poverty are not being reduced. Over 700,000 people now live in poverty, an increase of almost 84,000 since 1994. More than 250,000 of these are children and 80,000 of those included in this figure live in dire need. In 2004 the poverty line was €180.30 per week for a single person, that is €9,375.60 per year. For a couple with two children the poverty line is €418.30 per week which is €21,750.60 per year. These are the minimum amounts required if people are to provide the basics that will enable them to live life with dignity.

What has changed dramatically in the past decade is the composition of those living in poverty. For example, more than a decade ago, over 40% of all those living in poverty lived in a household headed by a person who was unemployed. This has now fallen to 7.3%, which I welcome. Today, more than 60% of those living in poverty live in households headed by a person who is not in the labour force. These are people who are retired, are ill, have a disability or are in a category entitled "home duties", which includes many carers. For these, social welfare rates are critically important.

The sustained high rates of poverty and income inequality require greater attention. Tackling these problems effectively requires a broad brush. Action is needed on many fronts ranging from health care to education and accommodation to employment. However, the most important requirement in tackling poverty is the provision of sufficient income to enable people to live life with dignity. No anti-poverty strategy can possibly achieve success without an effective approach to address low incomes.

This is a critical time for Ireland. Sustained economic growth has not delivered a fairer society. The economic recovery delivered jobs and higher incomes but it has not led to a more just society. Significant inequalities continue to exist with respect to income, wealth, health and education. A new approach is needed, part of which features in this debate. I commend Deputies Ó Caoláin, Crowe, Ferris, Morgan and Ó Snodaigh for bringing this progressive motion before the House and I urge all Deputies to support it. It is a common sense motion, containing some sensible ideas about child care and it puts children first.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. B. Lenihan)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes:

—the considerable progress which has been achieved in the implementation of the recommendations of the national child care strategy over the past five years, through the equal opportunities child care programme and other Government initiatives;

—that each county of Ireland has already benefited considerably from an increase in the provision of child care places through the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 and that the programme is already ahead of target in this regard;

—the increased provision in capital funding following the mid-term review of the EOCP for the community based not for profit child care sector to develop new child care facilities;

—the positive impact that the availability of these new places is having on the parents of Ireland and their children;

—the many positive comments of the OECD in relation to child care in Ireland, the development of which has been made a priority by the Government;

—that increased female participation is being encouraged through a range of measures, including family-friendly working arrangements, child care provision and changes to the tax and benefit systems;

commends the Government for the:

—complete implementation by way of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 of improvements to maternity leave entitlements recommended by the maternity review group;

—immediate implementation in March 2001 of increased periods of maternity leave as recommended by the maternity review group and the application of the same increases to adoptive leave;

endorses the:

—Government's policy on the development of child care which offers parents in employment, education and training a range of choices with regard to the availability of quality child care at local level;

—Government's policy in relation to the provision of appropriate pre-school education in areas of social deprivation and for those with special needs to help combat disadvantage and promote education;

and continues to deliver that policy in:

—making further provision to enhance adoptive leave entitlements in the Adoptive Leave Bill 2004 currently before Dáil Éireann;

—implementing improvements to parental leave in accordance with the commitment made in the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement by way of a Bill to be published during the current Dáil session;

—supporting the early start scheme which funds centres that aim to expose children from disadvantaged areas, aged three to four years, to a positive pre-school environment to improve their overall development and long-term educational experience and performance;

—establishing the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education, CECDE, by the Department of Education and Science in October 2002 to develop, within a three year period, a quality framework for early childhood education and to develop, through active research with existing programmes, targeted interventions for children who have special needs or who are disadvantaged;

—the provision of funding to vocational education committees to assist towards the child care expenses of participants in vocational training opportunities schemes, Youthreach and senior Traveller training centres to facilitate the attendance on certain further education programmes of people for whom they were designed but who are precluded from availing themselves due to their child care responsibilities;

—the Government's commitment to restoring maternity benefit to 80% of reckonable earnings from its current level of 70% as recently agreed at the mid-term review of part two of Sustaining Progress and the commitment to implement the measure over the lifetime of the agreement;

—the Government's continued use of child benefit as the main instrument through which support is provided for parents;

—the commitment of the Government to the child benefit scheme is reflected in the significant resources invested in the child benefit scheme since 2001 where the combined child benefit-child dependant allowance payment has increased by more than double the rate of inflation;

—the Government's commitment to taxation measures which favour the supply of child care places;

—the equal opportunities child care programme, including the need to increase capital funding to the programme to sustain the dynamic which has developed at local level through which community groups and private providers are prepared to establish and manage child care facilities; and

the Government affirms that the guidelines for planning authorities on child care facilities that were issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in June 2001 are delivering on the provision of child care facilities."

I thank the Deputies for tabling this motion. The amending motion in the name of the Government is a common sense one with which we will deal tomorrow night but before we join in the merits I wish to make some points arising from the debate so far. Deputy Ó Caoláin opened up in a constructive spirit and made the point, which was echoed by Deputy Eamon Ryan, that it was inappropriate that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and that Department should have responsibility for this matter. That is because it is responsible for equality. The substantial funding committed to this area under the equal opportunities child care programme is €449 million, of which €177 million is obtained by the Department through an arrangement with the European Union in Brussels.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

Is that a good enough reason to have it there?

Mr. B. Lenihan

The Deputy must bear with me for a moment. The Department is indemnified to the extent of €177 million on its expenditure. That comes from the European Social Fund relating to equality and equal participation in the workforce so the equality-driven measure as far as the Commission is concerned is the increased participation of females in the workforce. I agree with Opposition Deputies who made some very valid points about child care policy in general. However, as a matter of good diplomacy the Government secured for the Exchequer €177 million, a not inconsiderable sum. That is why administration of these matters is vested in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I have had the pleasure of launching many county child care committee reports and the officers of the Department have given great satisfaction to and liaise with the people who have recourse to the development of child care facilities. That is separate from questions of policy which we are debating this evening.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

Is the Lisbon Agenda driving child care?

Mr. B. Lenihan

The Lisbon Agenda is not driving child care. The Government has adopted a national children's strategy that has been highly commended by the United Nations organisation. The strategy envisaged that children should be at the centre of public policy decision-making. The Lisbon Agenda does not take priority over the interests of children.

I was endeavouring to explain to Deputies opposite why responsibility for this matter lies with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The issue of the standards which apply in child care centres is a matter for the Department of Health and Children. I was intrigued by the canvassing of the Swedish model in this motion echoed by some speakers. There is no doubt the Scandinavian countries have a very good record in the area of child care provision, but I respectfully suggest to the Opposition Deputies that they look at the Finnish model ahead of the Swedish one. Finland has one of the best literacy and educational statistics in the world because its child care is integrated with the kindergarten system. We have not decided to adopt the Swedish model. It is universal and a very substantial increase in taxation would be required to fund such a model. That is a matter about which we can have political debate in this House but it is important to note that would be the implication of adopting the Swedish model. Our model is not perfect, far from it.

Deputy Finian McGrath spoke about relative poverty. Of course the Government is concerned about the bloc of children who remain in consistent poverty. Although the figures for consistent poverty have improved, the latest available figures show a group in that area. This is a matter which the Ministers for Social and Family Affairs and Finance must consider when preparing this year's budget. Despite considerable increases in child benefit in recent years, they have not reduced that number. We must adopt more wide-ranging policies and strategies to deal with that.

I refute the comments made by Deputies which failed to acknowledge the achievements that have been made since 1997 since the present Government configuration took office. The Government's implementation of a wide range of measures in accordance with the programme for Government has had a major impact on the child care needs of parents. Real choices have been offered.

There has been major economic and social change in the past three decades which has totally transformed the position and status of women in modern Irish life and the Government has responded to those changes. It was not until the early 1980s that in general women remained in employment following marriage and even then many women withdrew from the labour market on the birth of the first child. There were various reasons for this, including the lack of available child care options. Many of those who chose to remain in the labour force relied on family members or neighbours to provide child care.

Until the 1990s the provision of formal child care was somewhat limited with few centre-based child care facilities. Much of the so-called child care provision offered only pre-school education and socialisation opportunities in very small and unstructured settings usually for the academic year prior to the first year in junior infants at primary school. That was the requirement for most at the time. In the 1980s and 1990s as more mothers tended to remain in or return to the workforce the child care needs of parents continued to be most frequently met by family or neighbours. The Central Statistics Office survey of child care in 2003 shows that the involvement of the extended family to provide child care support remains the preferred choice for child care in many families. I welcome the fact that the Central Statistics Office made a detailed extrapolation from the 2002 census which is a very interesting document and I commend it to Deputies who are interested in this subject.

The potential of the female labour force as an impetus for further economic growth together with the economic needs of many couples continued to contribute to an increase in female participation in the labour force. EU equality legislation endorsed the need for expanded opportunities for women. The result of these changes was an increased awareness of the need for expanded child care services to support the participation of both parents in the labour market.

The first meeting of the expert working group on child care established under the partnership arrangements was held within a month of the Government changeover in 1997. All the evidence shows that child care has been high on the Government's agenda since then and the Government has moved to facilitate the development of top quality child care services across the length and breadth of the country. The social partners recognised the need to develop child care to meet the needs of working parents under Partnership 2000. The equality division of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform chaired the expert working group on child care which reported in 1999. The group's recommendations were published in 1999 and the Government proceeded to implement them through the budget of 2000 and the National Development Plan 2000-2006.

The expert working group looked at the supply and demand sides of child care. The supply side was supported through major investment in the national development plan as a result of which over 20,000 new centre-based child care places have been put in place. This represents an increase of at least 35% in the supply of child care places since 1999. The Government addressed the demand side through a series of fiscal measures. These included supporting the development of privately-owned child care facilities by making capital tax facilities for expenditure incurred in the construction, extension or refurbishment of a building or part of a building for use as a child care facility as well as for expenditure on the conversion of an existing building or part of a building for use as a child care facility. This incentive applies to facilities which meet the required standards for facilities envisaged in the Child Care Act 1991 for expenditure incurred on or from 1 December 1999 — 100% capital allowances are allowable in one year.

Certain free or subsidised child care facilities provided by employers are exempt from a benefit-in-kind charge on employees benefiting from the facilities as provided for in the Finance Act 1999. The benefit-in-kind exemption applies if the employer provides the facilities in-house or in premises made available by the employer in another location. The exemption also applies if an employer provides child care facilities jointly with others, such as other employers or a voluntary body. In such circumstances, the employer must be wholly or partly responsible for financing and managing the child care facility. This exemption was subsequently extended in the Finance Act 2001 to cover situations where an employer makes a contribution to the capital costs of an independent supplier of child care facilities. It is fair to note that a number of fine facilities have developed through reliance on that facility. The exemption from benefit-in-kind taxation does not apply where an employer simply pays for or subsidises the cost of child care provided by an independent child care provider. The cost borne by the employer is a taxable benefit and PAYE and PRSI must be applied accordingly.

The Government has continued to make increased child benefit available to parents to enable them to exercise child care choices for the care of their children while they are at work, in training or in education. Government policy in the area of child support aims to provide assistance that will offer real choice to parents and that will benefit all children. In that context it has been decided that child benefit will be the main fiscal instrument through which support will be provided to parents with dependent children. Child benefit provides assistance to all parents in whatever caring choices are most appropriate for them and their children. In addition and unlike tax relief, it provides support to parents irrespective of their income status. The Government's commitment to the policy of concentrating resources for child income support on the child benefit scheme is reflected in the significant resources invested in the child benefit scheme since 2001 as evidenced by increasing monthly payments to €131.60 for each of the first two children and €165.30 for the third and subsequent children — increases of 144% and 132% respectively. It is important to recognise that since 1994 the combined child benefit or child dependant allowance payment has increased by more than double the rate of inflation.

Unlike child dependant allowance, child benefit is neutral vis-à-vis the employment status of the child’s parents and does not contribute to poverty traps, as the loss of child dependant allowances by social welfare recipients on taking up employment can act as a disincentive to availing of work opportunities. Consequently, universal child benefit, which is not taxable and is not assessed as means for other secondary benefits, has proved more effective than child dependant allowance as a child income support mechanism. I know there was an interesting submission on the demand side from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on various tax measures the Government should consider in this area. I will draw them to the attention of the Minister for Finance, but in adopting any tax incentives in this area, we must be careful not simply to increase the cost of the provision of child care. By providing a particular tax relief, we must be careful not to indirectly increase the profits of the child care supplier rather than passing on the real advantage to the ultimate user of the service.

On the supply side, apart from the capital taxation incentives, the benefit-in-kind scheme for employers and increases in child income supports, the implementation of the equal opportunities child care programme 2000-06 represents the Government's major response to the development of child care in Ireland. The programme now has an investment package of more than €449 million over the eight year period 2000-07 during which expenditure will take place under the National Development Plan 2000-2006. The programme directly implements the supply side recommendations of the Partnership 2000 expert working group, which included the provision of financial supports towards the development of new services and enhancement of existing services, supports towards the development of quality awareness in Irish child care and the development of a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care services. The programme was launched as an element of the National Development Plan 2000-2006 and it is largely funded through the two regional operational programmes for the Border, midlands and western region and the southern and eastern region. The main objectives of the programme are to improve the quality of child care; to maintain and increase the number of child care facilities and places; and to introduce a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care services.

The programme originally made available €317.4 million in funding, including €177 million in European Social Fund support. This was subsequently augmented by a further allocation of €33.6 million of Exchequer funding from the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness social partnership agreement together with transfers of almost €86 million from other Departments. This brought the total allocation for the development of child care over the seven year period to 2006 to €436.7 million. The mid-term review of the national development plan brought a further increase in funding provision for child care of about €9 million in funding from the European Social Fund while the mid-term review of the BMW regional operational programme led the Assembly to transfer about €2.7 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund and €0.9 million of Exchequer matching funds to the child care measure. These constant increases in funding illustrate the demand that speakers from the Opposition have highlighted this evening and I accept that. They also show that the Government has not been lacking in imagination in seeking additional financial resources to match that increased demand. The increase brings the total funding now available over the lifetime of the programme to €449.3 million and the total allocations committed to this multi-annual programme will always be a matter under consideration by the Government.

Each of the operational programmes referred to the lack of centre based child care and pointed out that this was a significant contributor to exclusion from available education, training and employment opportunities, particularly at a time when increasing numbers of women were choosing to remain in or return to the labour market. The regional operational programmes noted that this lack of centre based child care impacted most severely on women, in particular disadvantaged women and single parent families. Accordingly, the programme is structured to have both a labour market and a social inclusion focus, where labour market participation is seen as a key medium to break the cycle of disadvantage. This parallels European Union social policy and must be adhered to as an emphasis for the programme because of the important contribution to the funding that comes from the European Social Fund.

The programme is structured into two measures of the regional operational programmes. The facilities measure makes capital grant assistance available to create new and enhanced child care facilities, with significant European Regional Development Fund and Exchequer support. The staffing and quality sub-measures make European Social Fund and Exchequer supports available to assist with the staffing costs incurred in child care facilities that support disadvantaged parents in employment, education and training and towards projects that enhance quality awareness in the child care sector. The equal opportunities child care programme makes capital grant assistance available to community based not for profit child care groups and to private child care providers to facilitate the creation of new and enhanced child care places. Community based not for profit groups that meet the programme criteria can avail of 100% funding, subject to the availability of funding. Private providers can receive a grant of up to €50,790 towards the cost of developing a new or enhanced facility. This level of funding to the private sector is capped because of competition and State aids issues. Community based not for profit groups that provide services for very disadvantaged families can also receive grant assistance towards their staffing costs, to enable them to support parents who would not be able to afford the full costs of child care.

To date, the Department has allocated more than €222 million in funding to child care providers under the programme through a mix of capital funding for community based, not for profit and private child care facilities as well as staffing funding for community based and not for profit groups. This funding allocated to date will lead to the creation of 31,200 new child care places, showing that the original target of 28,300 new places will be exceeded. The original programme targets were set on the basis of what was thought possible with the funding package available and did not aspire to address the full child care needs of Irish parents but to take a step in that direction. Of these 31,200 new places, the latest statistics covering the period to June 2004 show that 20,500 of these new places are already in place. These include 8,000 new full time places that offer child care services for more than three and a half hours per day, and 12,500 new part time places that offer less than that amount per day. Every county in Ireland has already benefited from the creation of additional child care facilities under the programme. All groups benefiting from the programme are encouraged to provide services to the maximum allowed in respect of their particular service under the child care regulations and to remain open for at least 46 weeks per year to facilitate parents in employment.

As a result of the high adult carer to child ratios that are essential to ensure the delivery of a safe, quality child care service, the cost of delivering child care is necessarily high. One of the key objectives of the programme has not just been to increase the quantity of child care available, but to increase the quality. It is in this context that the programme helps new community-based facilities with their staffing costs in their early days as they move towards sustainability. It is likely that a number of community based services located in areas of significant disadvantage will require ongoing contributions towards their staffing costs. Given the importance of labour market participation in breaking the cycle of disadvantage, the advantages to society in the long term of these supports will outweigh their costs in the short term.

Mr. Morgan

The Minister cut back those by 25%.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Minister to finish.

Mr. B. Lenihan

The creation of 30,000 new child care places is likely to lead to the creation of over 3,000 positions for child care practitioners. The opening of quality facilities will afford progression opportunities to trained staff. Such developments will contribute to the creation of a better child care sector in which people can work in well-appointed facilities and seek promotion opportunities in their present settings or in other services. Such factors are important if we are to sustain a high quality workforce in the sector.

The availability of tax benefits has also stimulated the availability of child care places. I understand that the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is concluding a survey of facilities in each county which will help the future planning of services. The survey will help us to assess Ireland's progress towards the Barcelona targets for child care provision, under which each EU member state aims to provide child care places for one third of children under the age of three and an early education place for 90% of those over the age of three who have not yet started compulsory education. Ireland is unusual among European countries in that children start primary school at a young age. The social practice in this country is to enrol children in junior infants when they are slightly younger than the age at which education is compulsory. The Barcelona targets are linked to labour market participation, especially by women.

The Government is attempting to increase and develop labour force participation in a manner that will enable women and mothers, and men and fathers, to balance family and work commitments. Increased female participation in the workforce is being encouraged through a range of measures, including family-friendly working arrangements, child care provision and changes to the tax and benefit systems. The improved macro-economic environment is helping to attract more people, including women, into the labour market. Other measures, including the introduction of a minimum wage, also help in that regard. Resources being spent on passive income support measures will be transferred to active measures to support the transition to employment, with financial support being provided on a sliding scale. There have been improvements in the retention of non-cash benefits. Job seekers have been assisted, for example by means of systematic identification, with the introduction of a preventative and activation plan. The operation of conditionality for unemployment payments has been made more efficient through closer integration between benefit payment and job placement services.

It should be noted that the rate of female participation in the workforce increased by approximately one third during the 1990s. Cultural changes, improving labour market conditions and rising educational attainment contributed to the increase.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

As did the forced cost of mortgages.

Mr. B. Lenihan

Measures that encourage greater levels of female participation in the workforce include tax incentives, making child income support more neutral vis-à-vis the employment status of parents and a greater commitment to flexible and family-friendly working arrangements. I was astonished by Deputy Eamon Ryan’s reference to a “speculative housing boom”. The so-called speculative housing boom was a response to the demand of thousands of young Irish people to buy their own homes. It is a clear sign——

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

They cannot be housed anywhere else.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

It resulted from the Government's failure to provide social housing and the abuse of the property market for domestic purposes by speculators who are driving house prices beyond the reach of ordinary parents.

Mr. Neville

That is a myth.

Mr. B. Lenihan

If Deputy Ó Caoláin ever has occasion to sit on this side of the House, he will discover that the supply of houses is a market like any other market. It is a market that has seen exceptional demand in recent years as a result of very high rates of economic growth and inward migration to this country. To describe the increased demand for housing as a speculative housing boom is the kind of fantasy to which one is led by Green Party economics. It has nothing to offer the future planning of this country.

Mr. Glennon

Hear, hear.

Mr. B. Lenihan

Almost two years ago the OECD undertook a thematic review of early childhood care and education in Ireland on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science. It noted that the launch of the ambitious equal opportunities programme was a real achievement in the Irish context, in which few or no models were available. The OECD, a reputable international observer, praised the efforts of the Government by saying that the programme maintained a focus on equality of opportunity, staff support, affordability and social inclusion. Its report praised all those involved in the delivery of the programme, including the programme's administrators, applicants and project developers from the community and private child care sectors.

I agree with the Opposition that fundamental questions will have to be asked in the run-up to the end of the programme in 2006. The Government has made clear that it will continue to fund the programme and make the case for additional funding from the European Commission. I am not certain how successful that case will be, but it is certain that a strong case can be made in the context of the BMW region, given the continued inclusion of that region in a particular category for EU funding. It is clear that the experience we have gained from the administration of the programme is important in planning for the future.

The 33 city and county child care committees are central to the development of child care services at local level. The remit of the 33 committees is to advance child care service provision in local areas by developing co-ordinated strategies for child care provision in each area, providing information on the provision of child care and local countywide networks and supporting initiatives which target all categories of child care providers, from highly structured centre-based crèches to child minding. The membership of the committees is broadly based and intended to be representative of key stakeholders in each county's child care sector. Committee members give freely of their time to the process. It was recommended that the structures be balanced to include representation from a wide variety of local interests.

I never cease to be amazed at the amount of work done by such committees, which are not established under statute. The committee members, who are not entitled to draw down expenses for attending meetings, exhibit a high degree of motivation. They try to work out the most appropriate form of investment in their local authority functional areas. They consider the measures which can be adopted to improve the quality of child care in their areas. They determine where the quantitative needs are in the relevant local authority areas.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I join the Minister of State in praising the committees.

Mr. B. Lenihan

I thank the Deputy. The equality for women measure is designed to tackle barriers to equality for women, including attitudinal, structural and institutional barriers. A programme is under way in that regard. Tax benefits, welfare payments and employment and training initiatives aim to reduce the number of working people who are poor and eliminate inactivity, unemployment and poverty traps.

Measures that have helped encourage participation in the labour force include structural changes to the taxation and social welfare system designed to make work pay and strengthen conditionality for unemployment payments. The current programme lists the priorities to be achieved over the next five years. It is hoped to ensure that those on the national minimum wage are removed from the tax net and that 80% of all earners pay tax only at the standard rate.

The county child care strategy is implemented through a series of annual action plans which are subject to a thorough appraisal before applications are approved for funding by the Minister through the programme appraisal committee structure.

A high level group on child care and early childhood education, chaired by the National Children's Office, was established to consider co-ordination in the child care and early education areas and the national policy implications arising from the OECD's review of this area. The decision to establish the high level group arose from a paper prepared last year by the National Children's Office for the Cabinet committee on children. The terms of reference of the high level working group on child care include to recommend an integrated national policy on child care and early education which will result in improved co-ordination at national and local level and which incorporates a child-centred approach to service delivery. The group is chaired by the National Children's Office and comprises representatives of many Departments. It is intended to bring a policy paper to the Cabinet by the end of 2004.

The Government is committed to the development of pre-school education. The enhancement of early childhood services, in accordance with the White Paper on Early Childhood Education, Ready to Learn, is being undertaken on a collaborative and phased basis. It will draw together and build on the many examples of best practice in early childhood education that have emerged over recent years. Special emphasis will be placed on the provision of appropriate pre-school education in areas of social deprivation and for those with special needs to help combat disadvantage and promote education. The Department of Education and Science supports the early start scheme to this end. The scheme funds 40 centres which aim to expose children from disadvantaged areas aged between three and four to a positive pre-school environment to improve their overall development and long-term educational experience and performance.

The Department has made substantial funding available to the VECs to assist the child care expenses of participants in VTOS, Youthreach and senior Traveller training centres. I would like to have discussed a number of issues pertaining to the equality agenda, including adoptive leave, but my time is up. I thank Members for their attention and I commend the amendment to the House.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I thought the Minister of State had forgotten about the motion.

Mr. Neville

I would like to share time with Deputies Twomey and Coveney.

I welcome the motion. The Minister said that children should be central to any public policy, and I support him wholeheartedly. However, to say that it is happening in effect is another matter. I know that the Minister's wishes are such and that he is committed to it, but there are certainly areas of extreme concern when it comes to children being central to certain policies. I will give one example that I may have raised with the Minister already.

Describing psychiatric services for children as a disgrace is mild. There is no dedicated psychiatric service for those aged 16 to 18. It is accepted by all psychiatric professionals that adult psychiatric services are totally inappropriate to children of 16 to 18 — our definition of a child is under 18. The child psychiatric service is totally underfunded and because children aged 14 to 16 tend to have a great many problems, it concentrates on that group. Younger children are ignored and the effect is that one is really not tackling their problems. The psychiatric services are surely just one example of children not being central to a policy. I recently attended an international conference where the fact was raised that we do not have such services for children aged 16 to 18. In our area, we have seen children as young as 11 with adult psychiatric patients, which is totally inappropriate and unacceptable.

With regard to the motion, Ireland has changed over the past decade and a half. We have seen many changes in the economic and employment area. They have all been very welcome and have shown a level of success. However, they have caused social and cultural changes that have had as much effect on the population as the economic development itself. We have not dealt with those as effectively, or paid the same attention to them, as we did with economic and employment developments. We have not examined the cultural and social changes that have arisen because of economic development. The quality of life has not kept pace with the standard of living. Many families find themselves under pressure. Housing issues were raised. Any couple wishing to own a home has had no choice for the past decade but for parents, father and mother, to be in employment. While occasionally people are able to be house husbands or housewives, that is extremely rare because of the economic pressures of economic development. We have not dealt with that.

Many families now have two parents at work and must seek to juggle the needs of their children with the demands of their career and education. Some parents have child and elder care responsibilities. Recently we discussed the elderly in this House. It is not unusual for a family to concern themselves with their parents and children while both parents are in employment. Modern pressures are of great significance in the area. Time is a new pressure. More families' time is spent working, but there is less direct support through extended family networks, with which I will deal later. It is often harder on those lower down the income scale and those caring alone.

The traditional pattern of the family with a male wage earner and a female dependant at home caring for the children is no longer the norm. An OECD study shows that women's employment in Ireland is at the EU average of 56%, an increase of 140% since 1971. Women's participation in the labour force is expected to grow by a further 218,000 by the year 2011. The number of parents raising their children alone has risen, a new phenomenon in Irish society. Employment rates among lone parents are low, and lone parent families are disproportionately at risk of poverty. Child care and other supports are necessary to allow them to access work, training and education where needed to support their families. A major initiative is required to allow young single parents in particular — mothers in most cases — to access education so that they might be allowed the life opportunities they deserve. Being a mother should not inhibit a person from furthering her education.

The last Estimates withdrew the crèche supplement, a vital payment to families on low incomes that helped people get out of the poverty trap by enabling parents to work. For other families on the average industrial wage, there is a need for both parents to work to pay the mortgage or provide for the family's medical bills. For many, there is no element of choice about whether one parent works or stays at home to care for children. The growing pressures facing families have been ignored. Rapid development has heaped a disproportionate burden on young families, especially young mothers. Work-life balance has become an issue because of wide-ranging economic and social changes. In recent decades, the supports of extended families and communities have been weakened, another substantial change in Irish society. Previous generations had support from their extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws and first cousins, but the new nuclear family where people move in modern society dictates that people are alone, without such support systems. That is a key change affecting many young people, for example, through the loss of assistance with child minding, which was previously available through the extended family.

Parents at work need more flexibility to deal with longer-term child care and emergencies for their children during the day. Employers must remember that they are employing members of families rather than just productive units. Having previously been involved in personnel, I abhor the new term that came in ten or 15 years ago, "human resources". People are regarded by most employers as human resources, but there is more to them than that. They are families, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and so on. There is a great deal more to a human than just the resource value. If families are dislocated, the firm will not be immune to the effects. Employers must accept responsibility for that, as must the State. Labour law should be reviewed to recognise the changes needed to accommodate a situation where both parents are at work and sharing the obligations of parenting. Employers should be incentivised to assist the development of family-friendly work practices.

I spoke of lone parents, and it is important that we recognise the child's right to know and be parented by both parents — we have stated that on numerous occasions. I approach this not from the point of view of the rights of fathers or mothers, but from those of the child. We have not studied, and do not fully understand, the implications of changes in society where one third of children are born to single mothers. We do not know how many of those are reared in one-parent families since the statistics on partnerships do not exist. However, the vast majority of those are reared by one-parent families. We must change our culture to demand that a child has the right to parenting from both parents. There is an obligation on both to do so and both have a right to such involvement.

Increasing the provision of adequate child care means more than encouraging women back to the workforce and allowing them to stay there.

Dr. Twomey

No matter what the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, said, there are huge deficits in the provision of child care, child welfare and the education of our children. When the Disability Bill goes through this House we will see how bad are these weaknesses in the system.

It is impossible for me to consider all the issues raised tonight, but two have stood out clearly since I was elected to Dáil Éireann. They are the equal opportunities child care programme, which has been a fantastic success, and the VTOS child care supports. Sometimes I believe the Government has no social conscience. It sets up these excellent social programmes for children and parents, yet when they are barely established it seems it is hell-bent on tearing them down again. That is often the impression of many of the people who benefit from these schemes.

Some people say the Government is pathologically or at least psychologically unable to consider the Swedish, Finnish, Danish or any other socially progressive child care model. There is a mindset which sees a need to support the schemes I have mentioned for only three years or less, with the schemes then expected to support themselves. Many schemes are supposed to become businesslike in that space of time and raise the funds to keep going. These are social programmes for looking after child care issues. Many other countries have such programmes as a norm. They do not view them as something special to be brought to a community for three or four years before being dismantled. They should be built on. In my constituency I have seen hard work put into such schemes, yet they are not funded by the Government in a way that would allow them develop and become stronger. No matter what we say about EU or Government funding, the Government does not seem committed to child care schemes but presumes it can extract the maximum work from parents and forget about what is coming for the next generation.

We have exploited the Celtic generation and now we are letting down what we might call the Celtic cubs. In the past seven years to which the Government regularly refers, since 1997 or so, many people in this country have made between €50 million and €500 million, yet we are letting down the people who sustained the progress for this country during those years. It is time the Government faced up to these important responsibilities. Vital funding is wasted with people having to go through a maze of bureaucracy when reapplying for funds. They have to go to four or five different organisations for pre-approval and post-approval and whatever further layers are required for people to get funding for systems which are up and running and working well.

Parents also suffer huge anxiety as the Government fails to decide whether it wants to look after the child care needs of the next generation of children. If we have forced people out to work because of our tax policies and the way we have run the economy, the least we can do is deliver a proper child care system to the people left at home.

Many of the aims mentioned here tonight are achievable. Some will be dismissed immediately by many of those on the Government benches because the Government finds it hard to accept even the most basic programmes such as the equal opportunities child care programme. It certainly would find it difficult to accept the VTOS child care supports because it has attempted to dismantle them so quickly after they were set up. It is odd how such things happen immediately after an election. Now that we are facing into another period of crisis for the Government, we will surely hear a great deal more about these schemes again. That is not the way to look after the child care needs of this generation, whether those of single mothers who would like to go out to work or get an education, single fathers who would like to get support in looking after their children or would like to further their education, or the cases we are seeing more often where both parents are expected to go out to work. Often they are not going to work to pay off big mortgages but to maintain a basic standard of living because in the past seven to ten years there have been huge cost increases for even the most basic commodities. These people are forced out to work and are merely trying to maintain a standard of living they might have had 15 years ago.

We must wake up to what child care provision, child welfare, child education and child health issues mean. We will leave it to the Government parties to see if they can come up with something better in their amendments than what we have seen so far this evening.

Mr. Coveney

I thank the other Opposition parties for bringing this motion before the House and affording us an opportunity to discuss child care. For a certain sector of Irish people, child care has been an important issue for some time. As many Deputies noted tonight, Ireland has changed dramatically, almost unrecognisably, in the past two decades. Incomes and employment have increased and our physical infrastructurehas improved. There are nevertheless serious quality of life questions which apply to many people, which the Government has let slip. Family circumstances have changed as dramatically as our road systems. In most families, particularly young ones, both parents are working out of necessity or choice. Family structures have also changed because there are more single parent families which need State support different from that provided in the past. As the workforce increases and more Irish people are working, there is less time for parenting, which poses problems. As a party which prides itself on the promotion of family values and the support of family life, Fine Gael is interested in such issues.

Many people agree with these sentiments but are too busy to stand up and say so. When surveyed in 2002, 62% of mothers and 86% of fathers in Ireland said that they would like to spend more time with their families but were unable to do so because of work commitments. Time has become a key commodity for parents and all too often parents are forced to choose between spending time at work and spending time with their children or their elderly family members. Unfortunately, work is the priority, most of the time, out of necessity. The Government needs to find ways of providing more family-friendly successful policies. IBEC estimates that four out of five companies countrywide have some form of family-friendly work policies within the structures of their businesses. Further support is needed there.

I will concentrate on two key areas of child care, provision and cost. I welcome the Government policy of providing capital tax incentives to companies to continue to provide physical child care facilities in the workplace. That must continue. We must strongly encourage companies in this regard and make it financially worth their time. I am a great believer in using the taxation system as a way of incentivising a progressive change. We should continue with the policy referred to even more aggressively than in the past. The State must take a more proactive approach towards building a physical child care infrastructure where the workplace clearly cannot provide it. There are blackspots in every constituency. Even if every company in the country were to provide child care facilities, there would still be parents in need of State assistance with community child care facilities. Previous speakers mentioned other working models in Europe. We need to look at them and copy them. It is not a matter of re-inventing the wheel.

I will make an important but perhaps controversial point regarding the cost for parents. The time has come to allow middle-income earners, in particular, to write off at least a portion of the cost of child care against income tax. As the debate must now adjourn, I will, perhaps, explain that point to the Minister.

Debate adjourned.