Ms Orla O'Connor:

I will answer some of the questions. My first point links to Deputy Troy's and Senator van Turnhout's remarks. When developing our policy and infrastructure we need to look at where we want to go rather than looking at the current situation in which parents are being forced to make decisions in the context of really poor leave, extremely expensive child care and a lack of flexibility and consistency in the existing services. This is part of the reason we say there needs to be a type of Nordic model. What many mothers are saying to us is that they often end up in occasional child care situations - that they can only afford so many days a week in a creche and then they have to depend on family members and on using some of their annual leave. It is important that we do not try to put in place measures that maintain that system. We need to look at what we want to achieve.

When the free preschool year was introduced, there was no promotion of it, yet there was a take up of over 95%. I recognise the issues that have been raised with regard to quality, but parents saw that the preschool year was universal, free and accessible and they regarded it as offering good quality for their children. That is the important point and it links back to some of the issues raised by Deputy Troy on how other options can be supported. It is important that when we hopefully move to a more progressive model, our other policies link up. I am not saying that our investment in child care needs will address all of the issues the Deputy raised, which are really important issues for economic security and low-income families. However, those are issues for our social protection system. It is about precarious work and low pay. I do not think the child care infrastructure can address all of those issues, nor do I think we should be trying to devise features within child care in an effort to compensate for some of the issues regarding low pay and precarious work in the economy.

I refer to the important issue of maternity leave, as raised by Senator van Turnhout, and the comparisons with the Nordic model, under which there is shorter maternity leave. Research and evidence on this model in Ireland is not widespread, but I refer to one substantial piece of work carried out by the Equality Authority and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency which showed for the first time the pressure that is often put on women to return to work early. The study was carried out in recession times. It is an issue of concern to the National Women's Council of Ireland that if maternity leave is shortened that this tends to happen. In the Nordic countries leave is much more ingrained and the sharing of care between men and women is more ingrained. We need to consider those issues.

Certainly, women are saying to us that they want those six months.

Another important issue that Senator Burke raised was the question of where the funding comes from. This needs substantial investment. We believe it is about making those choices, but we need to remember that these are really serious choices. Let us consider some of the things discussed in the spring statement and that are under discussion now that we are coming into an election period. If we erode our tax base then we cannot afford this type of child care model. We need a progressive model of taxation that prioritises public services and public investment. We cannot erode it. This is clearly one of the lessons coming out of the recession and austerity. There needs to be a progressive model of taxation to allow this to happen. Otherwise, it cannot happen. We cannot have it both ways.