Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

This is a Parliament, not a crèche. The Deputy seems to be of the view that publicly provided services are in all cases intrinsically more valuable and better provided than privately provided services. I contend that a choice should be available to people if they so wish it. Of course there is an obligation on us to provide publicly provided services, which we do. However, we have used the tax system, for example, to help families care for incapacitated family members in their own homes. Why should we not? Is it suggested that this should be a service provided by a public service provider?

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