John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Listening to some of the previous speakers would make one wonder what we on this side of the House have been doing for the last few years. However, it is precisely because of the structures that have been put in place and the support given by this Government under the EOCP since 2000 that we have more than 35,000 child care places in this scheme today.

A couple of years ago I met with local providers who were concerned about what, if anything, would be provided when the current scheme ran out. "If anything" was the big question.

I compliment the Minister of State on putting forward in a timely fashion his proposed plans because it afforded those who are providing services an opportunity to look at what they are doing and to respond to him. The Minister of State, in reply, has stated he will analyse the data he is getting and make the necessary adjustments, and that is important.

The backdrop to this is that funding in this area is not being diminished. It is actually increasing. It is a question of applying those resources fairly to achieve best value for money and to ensure that those who need the service are best assisted.

There has been much misinformation and comment about the new changes. I refer to the following comment made by Deputy Shatter last night:

As we have a growing elderly and greying population, and as the imbalance widens between those in employment and those retired, it is also dependent on our birth rate naturally growing. It should be an essential social and economic objective in this State, as in other member states of the European Union, that parents be encouraged to have children rather than discouraged, and that the economic impact of rearing a young family be mitigated or relieved, not made unnecessarily burdensome.

I agree. I would point out that he brings that aspect into a particular debate on community child care subvention and there are many other aspects. I would say to him that that is precisely what this Government believes in and has been doing, not just in the single issue area of community child care subvention but in other areas where we radically increased the child benefit payment and introduced the early child care supplement. Specifically, I make the point that at present a couple with two children under six would get annual payments of almost €6,000, a substantial increase on what was provided in 1997. It is unfair to bring this debate into other areas. This is about the community-based child care subvention.

One of the issues that arises in my area relates not to the full-time groups but to the sessional groups, all of whose members I have met and documentation on which I have given to the Minister of State, which are unable to charter this out precisely, perhaps because of the diverse range of services they offer. It is important that the groups concerned are not all full-time. Many are run in conjunction with other courses, etc.

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