Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I missed the earlier presentations. I read the submission from the National Women's Council, which correctly pointed to a significant policy change in this budget. It is a very specific and welcome intervention to provide child care support for low-income families specifically using registered child care facilities. The second payment cannot be called a universal payment. How can it be called a universal payment when a full category of parents - usually women - who are caring for children themselves or are caring through a relative are not entitled to any such payment?

I have a fundamental concern that we have made that significant policy change and that the implication will be very significant in making it difficult for those who want to care themselves. For example, in Dublin where property is so expensive, if one form of child care is supported by the State, which is welcome, and another form is not, the other one becomes increasingly unviable with resultant social consequences. I recently had an exchange with the Minister, Deputy Zappone, in the Dáil about Senator Elizabeth Warren's book The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke.

I accept the need to support parents particularly in low-income families where we want to tackle poverty, but I am really concerned that the method discriminates against parents who may want to raise children at home or use a relative. I cannot understand or accept the word "universal" being used because it see it as the very opposite of universal - if we are supporting one type of care why are we not supporting another kind of care?

I have a philosophical question. In a sense we have sold our souls to an American, OECD or European Commission job-activation measure which is all about getting the economy going and getting as many people working as possible, and does not value caring because it is telling a category of parents using one type of caring that we do not value that type of caring. I do not criticise the intention of supporting those on lower incomes in particular who are using child care, with which I absolutely agree. However, why should we make this policy change where we do not leave it to the parent to decide what is best? Historically, that was the approach taken. Every family and every child is different and living in different circumstances. The parents are in the best position to choose the appropriate care model. Why is the National Women's Council supporting a system that discriminates against those who choose a particular model?