James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I compliment my colleague, Deputy Enright, on bringing this important motion to the House this evening. Even by the standards of this Government, it seems incredibly unfair to take the early child care supplement from families that are already struggling in the wake of one cutback after another. The Government is proposing to replace the supplement with a so-called "free" preschool scheme, which bears all the hallmarks of administrative chaos. While the new scheme essentially sounds straightforward, it throws up a rake of questions. The obvious question relates to eligibility. Who will meet the eligibility criteria? What exactly will those criteria be? I ask the Minister to bring some logical thinking to this matter. In the current Government-driven economic downturn, one would assume that a replacement scheme will be cheaper to implement.

I can safely assume that the free preschool places may be few and far between. Parents not only are in the dark about whether their child will qualify for a free preschool place but they are totally unaware of how to access the scheme in their area. A total of 15.4% of families in Longford-Westmeath have children at preschool level, which is slightly below the national average of 15.9% according to the Census of Population 2006. Can I assure them that all of these children will be entitled to a free place and that there will be sufficient places for all of them in their localities? I hope that the Minister of State will answer these questions in his summing up.

I very much doubt there will be sufficient places. I have a letter dated 17 April 2009 from Cluid Housing Association, which had applied for a grant of €744,000 for the provision of new child care facilities as part of the overall regeneration project at St. Michael's Road in Longford, only to be told by the local council that capital grants for the provision of child care facilities no longer exist and that there will be no money for such projects for the foreseeable future. This is a fact, in the Minister of State's heartland, the midlands.

I have an abundance of letters and e-mails from individual constituents who are paying huge sums for child care, and are left in an extremely difficult position, due to the withdrawal of the early child care supplement. Changes to child benefit on top of the withdrawal of this supplement, have led to a very high level of anger and despair among parents, as outlined by previous speakers.

Thousands of parents will not be able to avail of the new "free" preschool year because the places simply will not be there and even if they are, payments have been capped well below the fees many child care providers charge. The proposal is that the Government will pay preschools a maximum of €64.50 to cover three hours education, for five days a week. This would work out at a monthly payment of €258 for a four week month. Many preschools, especially in urban areas, however, are charging over €500 a month for a 15 hour week. Where does this leave parents as they will not be allowed to top up the grant? Service providers may in fact not participate, due to concerns about the implications of the scheme for their businesses.

The Government's amendments to the motion have only added to the confusion. It is stated that the Government will redirect over €170 million in savings from the removal of the early child care supplement into what is described as the child-centred approach of the scheme, which at the same time is designed to maximise flexibility for parents and service providers, including smaller services in rural areas. This is extremely puzzling.

While the Government is redirecting €170 million in savings from the early child care supplement, how much exactly will remain in the Exchequer? How exactly will the new scheme "maximise flexibility for parents"? Given the restrictions on the new scheme and the mysterious eligibility criteria, flexibility would not be the word I would use to describe it. As for the "child-centred" approach of the scheme I can only suppose that these are empty words designed to put a spin on the proposals such as the Government's spin at the weekend when it promised to bring back the bonuses. It is an election gimmick and that is what Fianna Fáil has been good at since the foundation of the State, codding and hoodwinking the people of this country. It will get its answer on 5 June because it has deceived the electorate time and again and the electorate has wakened up to that. It is time for the electorate to scuttle Fianna Fáil out of office and the quicker, the better given that in many parts of the country the jobless rate has increased by 90% in the past 12 months under this corrupt regime.

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