Ms Mary McLoughlin:

At present it is quite patchy, which was one factor that led to the establishment of the agency. It was not just about the more vulnerable families but also was about putting together all those resources, whether they were originally from the Health Service Executive or the Family Support Agency, and examining the policy for commissioning and providing family support and trying to do this consistently nationwide.

In response to Senator Burke's question on the issue of early intervention, as the person with responsibility for early years, I of course would reply that there is never enough money put into the early years. However, in respect of literacy, numeracy and children going on to third level, the early years are key. Some of this is about helping parents to understand that it is not necessarily about books, but the first piece is about talking to children. To revert to the point made by Deputy Catherine Byrne, children whose parents talk to them are more likely to read. Therefore, one must start with the simple things. For those who do not read or do not have a tradition of reading, reading children a book can be quite challenging, and people can be quite afraid of it. Simply talking to children or to babies from the very outset is of key importance and is a much simpler message to give to people. Part of the development of the strategy concerns what those messages are and how they can be disseminated without either patronising or frightening the parents, because many people are very nervous about what they ought to do. Every parent wants to do the right thing and we must find ways to help them to do that, albeit not necessarily highly complicated ways.