Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

While the Book of Estimates indicates increases in spending, it also brings heightened expectations for increased public services, which the public has a right to expect. Ministers have damped down expectations, particularly in the area of child care. One must remember that the elevation of the issue was not about party political hype or media hype, it happened at a time when the public had political clout, which was during the election campaign. The issue was raised during the Kildare and north Meath by-elections.

Areas like mine are often described as a commuter belt. It suggests that there are some sort of economic drones living in these areas, who commute between work and home, pick up their children and have two hours of quality time. However, the reality is very different. Those who raised the child care issue so forcefully during the election campaign saw themselves as working parents who exist in communities with significant shortcomings. There are shortcomings in affordable and available child care services. There are shortcomings also in community facilities that allow them to make the links for after school recreation, getting children to and from school safely and the cost and provision of pre-school services which are all part of the same child care debate. There should be some provision for these services in the budget for people who are paying the equivalent of a second mortgage each month. I accept there is a need to deal with the child care strategy over several budgets. I expect some provision to be made in the budget towards the cost of child care. However, the strategy to deal comprehensively with the issue must be outlined at the same time.

I want to highlight two issues. This includes the local government fund where there is a serious inequity, particularly in developing areas where there are significant increases in the population. Additional funds are not being provided to compensate for this increase. Purchasing water, augmenting the sewage treatment plant and benchmarking accounted for the increase paid to Kildare County Council last year, with no funding for discretionary spending, which is not fair. The mid-east region has drawn up a report on the matter.

The second issue to which I refer is special educational needs and the psychological services. There is no evidence in the Book of Estimates that there will be a sizeable increase in this area. I tabled a parliamentary question recently on the number of court cases taken by parents seeking education for their children and the costs involved. Some €10 million over two years was expended on legal costs. While this money should have been spent on the services, parents had no choice but to take this course of action to secure these services, which is bad all round.

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