Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I understand where the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance is coming from. However, providing child care has become such a complex jigsaw that it is very difficult to understand it fully. A whole series of issues need to be examined because of the anomalies in and unfairness of the system.

A new system of charging for community-based child care facilities will be introduced by the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, who wants to eventually reach a commercial charge for people in work. I understand civil servants in his Department complained because they were of the view that the better-off, particularly in villages and towns, were benefiting from community child care facilities. I am sure the Minister is familiar with this issue. It seems ironic that people with varying incomes and none in an integrated community in towns and villages who are to participate in and use a community facility will probably be charged much more in the future. There is probably a case for charging them a certain amount more. According to the reports of the senior civil servants urging the Minister of State to make these changes, many of the people in question are probably self-employed or work for small employers. Therefore, this time next year the Minister might be subject to some lobbying to address the issue again. The new system will throw up certain anomalies, particularly for those on moderate incomes who are either self-employed or work for small employers. Most of them tend to work either for themselves or for small or family-run businesses. The Minister has spoken about employers and small and medium-sized enterprises gathering together, which is to be desired. However, it is not happening very quickly. Perhaps other sections of Government might look at how policy is panning out.

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