Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I have to interrupt to clarify matters. Let me be 100% clear. My sole objective is to focus on the scheme. Incidentally, the Government is not the employer for child care providers. As a committee, we have acknowledged and set out in our work programme our desire to deal with the pay and conditions of workers. We could do so now, but to do it justice, I propose that we have a dedicated committee meeting devoted to it. That was the agreement heretofore and is why I do not want this engagement to be dominated by the issue. That is the ruling I issued earlier, but it has been challenged by most members to some degree in their contributions, something I respect and with which I have no difficulty. However, I do not want the message to go out that I will not allow a discussion of the pay and conditions of child care providers. I want to deal with the matter separately to treat it with due deference and diligence. I, therefore, ask members to broaden their scope. What we are here to talk about is the scheme.