Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is of value in itself, and I think that women have a right not to work as well. It is very important that we do not use the two terms synonymously. Child care is not the same as early childhood education. They can be, but are not necessarily, the same thing. Children require early childhood education whether or not their mothers are participating in the workforce. It is important that discourse reflects the need for an element of choice as well as enabling people to work.

In regard to the decision to restore €5 per month on child benefit, do the witnesses favour that over direct provision of, say, State-sponsored childcare or of services to children such as school meals through the school or early education systems? Or is there rooms for both strategies - general payments that are not selective versus selective provision of resources targeted at children who need them?