Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I commend Deputy Bruton not so much on his amendment, although I fully support it, but rather on his somewhat novel idea of lobbying a future Taoiseach and of trying to instil or develop a social conscience in Fianna Fáil. This is particularly useful and I wish him well in his endeavour; indeed I might join in with him and extend it to paternity leave, for example, as there is not a single day of paternity leave in this State. We all know about the crisis in child care, which has been referred to by other speakers. We are all aware of the crisis in preschool education and home support workers. We would all have neighbours, never mind constituents, who are grossly in need of additional support in that area. If this debate on the Finance Bill could be used to develop a culture of social conscience in a potential future Taoiseach then it could be time well spent.

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