Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I support the motion because I believe quality child care has a beneficial effect on children and poor quality child care has a negative effect on them. I urge the Minister to heed this.

Parents want to choose the best for their children. People working in child care need to be valued for the important service they provide. Quality child care systems are essential elements in the country's infrastructure and lack of accessible, affordable and quality child care is a major block to accessing work or training. These are the core issues in the motion which I firmly believe is child centred. I urge all Deputies to support the motion because it is a common sense one and the proposals we make are also based on common sense.

We need to work towards the objectives set out in the motion. This debate is part of the wider equality debate. We must enable all parents to reconcile their child care needs with participation in the labour force, education and training. We must enable them to exercise their choice to care for their children full-time up to one year of age. All parents should have access to affordable child care for their children. The State must provide universal pre-school for all children from the age of three to five years. We must establish universal provision of early childhood care and education based on the Swedish system. I welcome this section in the motion because it is most relevant. The Swedish system is proven internationally.

I strongly welcome the section which calls on the Government in the interim to harmonise maternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by increasing maternity leave to 26 weeks paid leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave. Maternity benefit should be increased immediately to 80% of earnings. We also need to harmonise paternity leave on an all-Ireland basis by introducing paid paternity entitlement to two weeks per child. We need to increase adoptive leave to 24 weeks paid leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave. I would also like to see the introduction of paid parental leave and legislation to implement without further delay the terms agreed in respect of parental leave under Sustaining Progress.

We should assist parents with the cost of child care by increasing child benefit to €150 per month for the first and second child and to €185.50 for the third and subsequent children. Child dependant allowance should be increased to a single weekly figure of €26 for all recipients. A child care supplement should be paid as a top-up for child benefit for under five year olds.

We also need to increase revenue for the equal opportunities child care programme, including capital, staffing and operational funding and immediately expedite all outstanding applications which have been delayed due to the review of the programme. I also call on the Minister to re-instate the crèche supplement and the VTOS child care supports, the cutting of which have caused severe hardship to parents and children in disadvantaged communities. These are the nuts and bolts of a sensible programme for change.

In a society which should value the care of children, it is inappropriate to continue with the expectation that parents pay the full cost of child care from their net income. I support the National Children's Nurseries Association in its four key demands. Parental expenditure on child care incurred while accessing work, education or training should be a deductible, tax credit-allowable expense. This is cited as one of the key measures in the National Child Care Strategy 1999. Parents and children deserve immediate action on this issue.

I agree that all child care rates should be charged on a sliding fee scale system with the State paying the balance at an agreed annual rate, irrespective of whether the service is private and is based in the community or the workplace. I support the proposal to extend paid maternity leave to one year, thus allowing mothers to stay with their babies for that period. Alternatively, paternity leave could be used in the final four months. I also support the notion of 14 weeks fully paid parental leave.

I support these proposals because of the benefits that would accrue from them. They support parents in regard to child care expenditure and in accessing work, training and education. They also support parents, particularly mothers, in their decision to return to work following maternity leave. In terms of the way society values people, we must examine the situation where a construction worker can start off at €35,000 per year, and good luck to him or her, but, in contrast, a fully trained child care worker may start on €18,000 a year and sometimes less. We have to nourish and value people who work with children, which is not the case at present. Some smart alecks appear to spend their lives slagging off child care workers and teachers generally, but most of them would not last five minutes in a classroom, never mind five hours. Society has to stand with the people who work with children and the Government has a duty to assist them.

We must support early intervention on child care, poverty and educational disadvantage. Thousands of four year olds in junior infants classes throughout the country are two to three years behind their middle income peers in reading, mathematics and other basis skills. They will spend the next five years trying to catch up. If the Government does not supply the necessary support in a wealthy economy, we will fail thousands of our young people and the cycle of poverty will continue. The failure to address poverty in a sustained, effective and meaningful way is one of the major failings of the Government over the past decade.

Despite the high level of economic growth which resulted in an increased number of people in employment and a dramatic decrease in unemployment, the numbers living in relative poverty are not being reduced. Over 700,000 people now live in poverty, an increase of almost 84,000 since 1994. More than 250,000 of these are children and 80,000 of those included in this figure live in dire need. In 2004 the poverty line was €180.30 per week for a single person, that is €9,375.60 per year. For a couple with two children the poverty line is €418.30 per week which is €21,750.60 per year. These are the minimum amounts required if people are to provide the basics that will enable them to live life with dignity.

What has changed dramatically in the past decade is the composition of those living in poverty. For example, more than a decade ago, over 40% of all those living in poverty lived in a household headed by a person who was unemployed. This has now fallen to 7.3%, which I welcome. Today, more than 60% of those living in poverty live in households headed by a person who is not in the labour force. These are people who are retired, are ill, have a disability or are in a category entitled "home duties", which includes many carers. For these, social welfare rates are critically important.

The sustained high rates of poverty and income inequality require greater attention. Tackling these problems effectively requires a broad brush. Action is needed on many fronts ranging from health care to education and accommodation to employment. However, the most important requirement in tackling poverty is the provision of sufficient income to enable people to live life with dignity. No anti-poverty strategy can possibly achieve success without an effective approach to address low incomes.

This is a critical time for Ireland. Sustained economic growth has not delivered a fairer society. The economic recovery delivered jobs and higher incomes but it has not led to a more just society. Significant inequalities continue to exist with respect to income, wealth, health and education. A new approach is needed, part of which features in this debate. I commend Deputies Ó Caoláin, Crowe, Ferris, Morgan and Ó Snodaigh for bringing this progressive motion before the House and I urge all Deputies to support it. It is a common sense motion, containing some sensible ideas about child care and it puts children first.

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