Vol. 502 No. 3
525 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the plans, if any, he has to improve the position of the married woman working full-time in the home rearing children; the measures, if any, he has taken since 1997 in this regard; and the recent studies being considered on this issue. [7884/99]
I wish to refer the Deputy to the Government's decision of 2 February last to establish an interdepartmental committee on childcare, following the launch of the report of the Partnership 2000 expert working group on childcare, with terms of reference to evaluate, cost and prioritise the childcare proposals in the expert working group report, in addition to those in the report of the Commission on the Family, the report of the National Forum for Early Childhood Education and the Government's programme, An Action Programme for the Millennium.
The interdepartmental committee is chaired by my Department and comprises representatives, at senior level, of the relevant Government Departments. It is required to report back to Government within a period of six months. The committee has already met on two occasions to date.
