Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My other question pertains to correspondence I received today. I was asked to raise this specifically with the Minister, but it is an issue for everybody involved in politics.

As a new mother who is returning to work in the next six weeks I am looking at the cost of €1,000 a month to pay for child care for my baby. Add this to my mortgage on a property I bought ten years ago which is at least €150,000 in negative equity for which I paid first time buyer tax at that time of €12,500. Then there is property tax and water charges ... I agree we have to pay for water, this is just another bill and worry to a very long list. So I find myself paying large volumes of tax, yet I have no relief on the things I should be getting relief on. Why should I have to pay tax on the money I need to earn to place my child in care? I can't not work. I have a mortgage, health insurance, monthly bills, the costs of a new baby - nappies, wipes and formula alone are about €35 a week. But yet this government insists that I should have to pay tax on money I need to earn to pay for childcare. Childcare is not a luxury.

I know the Minister is very sympathetic to this issue but can we have a real conversation about how we progress in relation to child care? For the purpose of information, the Minister said he was progressing discussions with Ministers but has he reached agreement with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, on the provision of child care?