Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McClorey for her intensive report. It was music to my ears when I heard Mr. Noel Kelly speak. Although I would not call myself deprived, there was an element of poor people where I grew up beside Keogh Square in Inchicore. Keogh Square was the main housing block for the city council. I spent many a day running in and out of it with friends and living and working there voluntarily.

There is too much duplication of many services. It is very confusing for people. Much money has been poured into services that have not lived up to the required standards. That is where we have failed parents. I do not believe we should put everything on to teachers so that they must ensure children turn up for school dressed and with a breakfast. We need to focus again on the parents, family, surroundings and family networks. My main concern is that we should not take parenting away from parents. A teacher can only do so much when a child enters a classroom in the morning and goes home. A youth club can only do so much. The gap in the evening or early morning is where we have failed.

Given the area I come from and having worked locally with young children for a long time, I know that when children walked into the youth club, one could automatically see how their life would go - whether they would live longer than 18, for example. I am mainly concerned about the fact that schools I know cannot get a parent to sit in on a parenting class or sit on a board of management or even the parents' council. I am not blaming the teachers or the school. People criticised the Minister for Social Protection for taking away the dual payment. It has provided a focus for people who want to do something with their lives and not rely on a double payment anymore. That is evident where I live. I can see young people's attitudes changing completely. They do not have the security of that double payment so they are looking outward.

We need to look at what services are being duplicated. Should we have this amount of services? Should we concentrate on the services that are working as they should? Some of them are not found in the large agencies but are very small and involve working one-to-one with communities. I have a question about the Childhood Development Initiative, CDI, programme. What role do flesh-and-blood parents have in the early years programme? I enjoyed listening to everybody and think Mr. Kelly is a breath of fresh air.