Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We talk a lot in here about trying to make the place more family-friendly, but I do not think we ever really dig into that; how everyone's family is a little bit different and the intersectionality that undermines and underlines that to a certain degree as well. I am not sure some of the solutions we talk about either are necessarily very family-friendly.

One thing that came to mind while we were talking is that we have a public representation allowance, PRA, and expenses that are designed to ensure that anyone can do the job of politics and that it should not just be for those who have their own private resources. If I need a new phone, I can access funds from the Oireachtas to pay for my new phone, but there is not a similar fund for childcare. I am not saying a phone is not important, but from what the witnesses say, childcare is even more important and more fundamental in terms of access. We need to look at something simple like a new fund or even allowing the PRA and the allowances for councillors to be spent on childcare. That would go a long way. I am just thinking out loud here. However, if all we do is allow it, while somebody is spending the allowance on childcare, somebody else is spending it on leaflets so we are maintaining the disadvantage. Therefore, I think it does need to be a separate fund. That is something we should clearly be calling for.

I am conscious however that this only really helps people who are in here already or in a position to get in here. One of the big messages coming from the witnesses is that this is a very long way off for many people and that there are much deeper structural barriers before we even get there. That is where we do need to start.

I agree with what Senator Ruane says about tokenism. I have seen various parties address this in very different ways. I am not necessarily going to name any individual party, but I have seen some parties put huge efforts into trying to get more diverse candidates in terms of race or ethnic background and going to people again and again to get them to run. I have seen other parties do nothing. I have seen individuals within a party make huge efforts where the wider party is not doing anything. We, as politicians, need to go back to our own parties and interrogate what they are doing. That is for those of us who are unfortunate enough to be in parties. We must interrogate what they are doing and own some responsibility in that regard as well. What I am interested in is digging into what the individual parties can do as well. I am not sure I have many questions but I see that the issue of childcare is often spun as simply a labour activation intervention, but it is so much more fundamental to society and to participation in society. That needs to be underlined and discussed. I heartily endorse the idea of universal basic income for education or universal basic income in general.