Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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A lot of points have been made but the central one is that the Minister is failing to recognise that having and rearing children, which women do, is work. The Minister has referred to it as being "out of work" and that it is anomalous to be out of work and getting as much or more as one would get if one was in work. Having a baby and bringing up a child is work. It is perhaps the most important work that is done in our society and the most valuable to the society as a whole. It is entirely right and proper that women should be acknowledged in every way for that with any financial assistance they can get. If women need time off their other job - which is the right way to put it - to have babies and look after them in the early months, it is entirely right and proper that they should be slightly better off and that the Minister should not undermine that marginal advantage.