Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

In April, the Taoiseach stated: "when the capacity of the State was limited by a lack of resources, it was the commitment of the Irish people that so often, formally and informally, provided social services, community leadership as well as a sporting and cultural life for our people". I agree with that statement and pay tribute to the marvellous and decent people who, in their communities, continue to make tremendous contributions, especially for our youth, in facilitating a broad range of sporting and voluntary activities at great cost to their own time and convenience.

Now that there are far more resources in this State, does the Taoiseach agree that an enormous barrier to young parents having the time to become more involved in active citizenship and providing facilities is the failure of the State that he leads to resolve critical issues, which cut across such involvement? If young parents are enslaved by 40-year mortgages and are working all the hours available, their time to become active in providing facilities for the youth is limited. Furthermore, the fact that people spend many hours marooned in traffic, morning and evening, commuting to and from work also severely curtails their ability to provide necessary facilities for the youth. Therefore, a much wider remit must be included in finding a solution to the fact that active citizenship is not as strong as it once was.

See this speech in context