Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes:

—the considerable progress which has been achieved in the implementation of the recommendations of the national child care strategy over the past five years, through the equal opportunities child care programme and other Government initiatives;

—that each county of Ireland has already benefited considerably from an increase in the provision of child care places through the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 and that the programme is already ahead of target in this regard;

—the increased provision in capital funding following the mid-term review of the EOCP for the community based not for profit child care sector to develop new child care facilities;

—the positive impact that the availability of these new places is having on the parents of Ireland and their children;

—the many positive comments of the OECD in relation to child care in Ireland, the development of which has been made a priority by the Government;

—that increased female participation is being encouraged through a range of measures, including family-friendly working arrangements, child care provision and changes to the tax and benefit systems;

commends the Government for the:

—complete implementation by way of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 of improvements to maternity leave entitlements recommended by the maternity review group;

—immediate implementation in March 2001 of increased periods of maternity leave as recommended by the maternity review group and the application of the same increases to adoptive leave;

endorses the:

—Government's policy on the development of child care which offers parents in employment, education and training a range of choices with regard to the availability of quality child care at local level;

—Government's policy in relation to the provision of appropriate pre-school education in areas of social deprivation and for those with special needs to help combat disadvantage and promote education;

and continues to deliver that policy in:

—making further provision to enhance adoptive leave entitlements in the Adoptive Leave Bill 2004 currently before Dáil Éireann;

—implementing improvements to parental leave in accordance with the commitment made in the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement by way of a Bill to be published during the current Dáil session;

—supporting the early start scheme which funds centres that aim to expose children from disadvantaged areas, aged three to four years, to a positive pre-school environment to improve their overall development and long-term educational experience and performance;

—establishing the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education, CECDE, by the Department of Education and Science in October 2002 to develop, within a three year period, a quality framework for early childhood education and to develop, through active research with existing programmes, targeted interventions for children who have special needs or who are disadvantaged;

—the provision of funding to vocational education committees to assist towards the child care expenses of participants in vocational training opportunities schemes, Youthreach and senior Traveller training centres to facilitate the attendance on certain further education programmes of people for whom they were designed but who are precluded from availing themselves due to their child care responsibilities;

—the Government's commitment to restoring maternity benefit to 80% of reckonable earnings from its current level of 70% as recently agreed at the mid-term review of part two of Sustaining Progress and the commitment to implement the measure over the lifetime of the agreement;

—the Government's continued use of child benefit as the main instrument through which support is provided for parents;

—the commitment of the Government to the child benefit scheme is reflected in the significant resources invested in the child benefit scheme since 2001 where the combined child benefit-child dependant allowance payment has increased by more than double the rate of inflation;

—the Government's commitment to taxation measures which favour the supply of child care places;

—the equal opportunities child care programme, including the need to increase capital funding to the programme to sustain the dynamic which has developed at local level through which community groups and private providers are prepared to establish and manage child care facilities; and

the Government affirms that the guidelines for planning authorities on child care facilities that were issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in June 2001 are delivering on the provision of child care facilities."

I thank the Deputies for tabling this motion. The amending motion in the name of the Government is a common sense one with which we will deal tomorrow night but before we join in the merits I wish to make some points arising from the debate so far. Deputy Ó Caoláin opened up in a constructive spirit and made the point, which was echoed by Deputy Eamon Ryan, that it was inappropriate that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and that Department should have responsibility for this matter. That is because it is responsible for equality. The substantial funding committed to this area under the equal opportunities child care programme is €449 million, of which €177 million is obtained by the Department through an arrangement with the European Union in Brussels.

See this speech in context