Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues in the Fine Gael Party and other Opposition Members who spoke so eloquently in support of this motion.

I am somewhat puzzled by the contributions of Fianna Fáil Members. It is a tradition in the House for Government Members to support their Minister in whatever he or she is doing. The tradition has somewhat changed in the past 24 hours. Apparently, most Fianna Fáil Members have grave concerns about the implications of the proposed child care scheme but they will support the Minister regardless. This is most unfortunate.

This is not a motion of confidence in the Government. It is about genuine concerns about the implications of the proposed scheme for not-for-profit child care facilities and the impact it will have on parents and children. I would like to see those Members of Fianna Fáil who had the courage to express their concerns to have the same courage when voting on the motion. This is a parliament, not a theatre. We should vote on what we believe and not just play political games in the Chamber.

We need more, not fewer, affordable child-centred child care services. I recognise the Government has put up to €300 million in funding for the provision of good not-for-profit child care facilities. People in communities across the State have volunteered their time and made great efforts to provide the type of child care facilities that were badly needed for a long time. This was done not just to facilitate children but to facilitate mothers trying to get back into the workforce. It assisted young families under financial pressure to maintain two incomes. It was not just a back-to-work scheme but one that facilitated those in low-income groups to remain in the workforce.

The new scheme announced by the Government will pull the rug from under their feet. The consistent approach over recent years to not-for-profit child care facilities was supported on all sides of the House. The Minister of State, Deputy Devins, claims the proposed scheme will provide child care subventions for those in receipt of social welfare benefits or those in employment in receipt of family income supplement. On all sides of the House, it is recognised the scheme must also make provision for those in the workforce in receipt of low incomes who do not fall within eligibility criteria for family income supplement.

The proposed scheme is to become operational on 1 July 2008 with a transitional arrangement to maintain the current scheme. The Government has also promised to do something but it still does not know exactly what. It hopes those running not-for-profit child care services will maintain existing services. However, not one Member on the Government side can say what steps will be taken to ensure this.

The motion calls for certainty in this sector for the next 12 months. The Government must maintain the current scheme until 31 December 2008 and examine the data it will collect. It is an extraordinary approach for the Government to announce a new scheme without knowing how it will impact and then to claim it will research it afterwards. It also claims that when the research is completed it will work out how and when it will change the scheme. Not-for-profit child care services which need to recruit new staff cannot give any security of contract or inform prospective employees if they will be employed from 1 July 2008.

The Minister claims there was misinformation from this side of the House. There has been no misinformation on this side of the House. The Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Devins, referred to regional seminars. The Department's regional seminars highlighted the inadequacies of the scheme and caused alarm bells to ring in the heads of those across the country who have provided these services. We have not criticised the financial allocation for child care services. The Minister of State has been slaying dragons that do not exist by accusing people of criticising the level of funding available from his Department. We are criticising the new scheme which will not allow for the proper expenditure of that funding and will leave far too many families under financial pressure. The detail of the scheme threatens the future functioning of facilities that work well, the employment of the staff in them and creates real worries for parents, particularly women, about their capacity to remain in employment.

I predict that if the House does not vote to extend the scheme to December 2008 it will prove impossible to collate the significant information being furnished to the Department by over 800 child care facilities and tens of thousands of parents, and to work out what the changes should be. It is likely that although the Government will reject this motion the current scheme may have to continue to the end of the year. Would it not be better to do this by agreement on all sides of the House than to allow the uncertainty continue for several months? I urge the House to support the motion.

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