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

Is that not what we have here? The definition in the policy change is such that it is preclusive. The previous approach was through child benefit and other mechanisms, which were genuinely universal, to target parents with young children, in particular, and support them. Admittedly, there was an increase to the home carer's benefit but it is marginal. Some €5 million or €6 million was allocated for hundreds of thousands of people so it is almost negligible. Therefore, what has been introduced is discriminatory by definition. I do not hear the National Women's Council arguing for equal supports for individuals at home, largely women. What we are getting is an non-equal approach.

I have a point on seeking economic independence. The argument for it goes without saying. Let us go back to Senator Elisabeth Warren's evidence that giving economic independence to everyone working all the time actually decreases economic independence in the end. The experience in the United States is that it has led to massive levels of bankruptcy and difficulties, particularly for those couples in a dual-income trap. Their cost base increased because of the competitive bidding up of prices of housing, health care, child care and so on. This leads to an economy in which, if anything happens in a family in respect of a child with a disability, special needs, special circumstances, illness or other life circumstances demanding flexibility, there is not economic independence but a precarious economic situation. Evidence presented very clearly by Senator Elizabeth Warren is that the outcome is not independence. This is what the United States has created and what we are replicating here. It is actually an economic growth model that leads to economic uncertainty and difficulties in the long run.