Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It should not have surprised people that the Minister made such radical and generous proposals on disability funding. While the disability consultative group still has concerns about the legislation to accompany this package, nobody is arguing about the funding. This is a clear indication of the commitment of the Government to that sector.

I wish to follow up a small point made by Deputy Ardagh on tax relief and charities. A huge amount of money has been raised in the country in the past six weeks since the tsunami affected south Asia.

Many people have contributed more than €250. Charities have reported that they have sent out tax relief forms to such subscribers, but they have not received many of them back. As a consequence, a great deal of money that should be on its way to south-east Asia in some form is being held by the Revenue Commissioners. I echo Deputy Ardagh's comments of yesterday by asking the Minister for Finance, the Department of Finance, the media and the charities to highlight this problem.

The main issue I would like to discuss is child care, about which I feel strongly. I do not doubt that quality affordable child care is needed in this country. Quality child care can benefit children, but bad child care can have a negative effect on children. The UK Labour Party considers child care as a core issue in the forthcoming general election in that country. Over 1 million people in the UK benefit from the child care tax credit that has been successfully established there. The Government should consider introducing a child care tax credit in this country in the next budget.

The UK plans to provide 3,500 "sure start" centres by 2010. Not only will such centres provide child care, but they will also facilitate access to health and education services and tackle problems associated with poor infant health, early learning difficulties and other forms of deprivation. Paid maternity leave is extended for an entire year in the UK. Such a universal child care policy should be considered in this country.

The Finance Bill 2005 increases child benefit, which is welcome. Approximately 20% of the average earnings of parents in this country is spent on child care, compared to just 12% in the rest of the European Union. It is clear, therefore, that this country has a problem with the provision of affordable child care. The actual cost of child care for many people is between €600 and €900 per month. I spoke today to a constituent who pays €812 per month for a single child. That might surprise Deputies who are not from Dublin, but I assure them that child care costs in Dublin are extremely high. The costs faced by many people in this city who have two or three children are prohibitively high. Those who have more than one child save very little money when paying for the child care of their second and subsequent children.

Child care expenses are paid for from after-tax income, which means in many cases that parents encounter a great deal of pressure and suffer a great deal of stress. Some 220,000 Irish children are in need of child care, but that demand is expected to increase by between 25% and 50% by 2011. Although child care places are being provided and the Government is taking proactive action in the form of certain strategies, it is clear that we will face a significant problem in this regard in the future. I hope the Minister will take some steps in next year's budget and Finance Bill to alleviate the problem, in tandem with the action being taken by the Departments of Health and Children and Education and Science.

Only those parents who avail of on-site child care facilities in their place of employment receive any form of tax relief in this area. The conditions attached to the scheme are quite restrictive and ensure that it is of minimal use. Home-based child care is chosen by almost 70% of families. The cost of such care depends on the age of the children being cared for. In many cases, no tax relief is available to parents who employ a child minder in their own homes, even though they have to make the usual PAYE and PRSI contributions. It is another example of the pressures and stresses faced by parents whose children are looked after by child minders. There is no co-ordinated approach to such matters.

I do not doubt that benefits can accrue from tax relief for on-site child care, but I am not sure whether the system is having the desired effect. Should such a tax relief not encourage employers to create on-site crèche facilities? I would argue that it should encourage the establishment of such facilities, but it does not seem to have that effect. The incentive to employers, who should be encouraged by means of tax relief to provide facilities of this nature, to take such action does not seem to exist because the facilities seem to benefit parents only.

I welcome the section of this Bill that increases the funding made available to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's equal opportunities child care programme. The provision of child care worth €90 million up to 2009 under the programme is welcome. It is estimated that 17,000 extra child care places will be created by 2009, but I am concerned that it will not be enough. It should be noted that the programme does not fund pre-school services because they are considered to be part of the early education system. I consider that to be a failing of the programme. There are gaps in the manner in which services are provided under the programme.

Much has been made of the increases in child benefit. No Member of the House would argue that the increases are not welcome. All Deputies are aware that the increases apply to everybody who has children, regardless of income or need. It is worth noting that the National Children's Nurseries Association argued in its pre-budget submission that child benefit is not necessarily the same thing as child care. I agree with the association in that regard. The Government should consider more global ways of dealing with child care issues. For example, it should establish an interdepartmental group to analyse the issue and to give us something to compare to the excellent UK model.

See this speech in context