Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

In the wake of the Murphy report, given what probably will be the worst budget on record and with divisiveness on the airwaves, it is essential that we start developing a set of values with which everyone can concur. This is a question of leadership. A core value must be the common good. We hear about it in other countries, but Ireland seems to have forgotten it. I concur with my colleague, Deputy Higgins, in that the greed that drove the country for the past ten or 12 years must be wiped out and replaced with a set of proper values, including valuing children, which we have not been doing.

In terms of children, one aspect that was handled well was the universal children's allowance or, as it has become, child benefit. Last night, Deputy Tuffy outlined the benefit's history and the importance of the concept of universality at the time of the benefit's introduction, the concept that all children are equal and have a right to be given money that should not be used for any other purpose. This concept is at the core of what the Labour Party is trying to maintain in the context of this debate. Given the scandals of the Murphy and Ryan reports and the abuse of children, we have not valued children centrally. We have not given them a position in the Constitution, although it is now a priority for the Dáil. The concept of a universal payment for all children is central to the core value to which I referred.

Ireland has a great sense of solidarity, as was evident during the recent floods. I visited various communities in my constituency in which neighbour rallied around and supported neighbour. Anyone who listened to the airwaves this morning would have heard of the woman from the west who set up a website to allow people to help victims of flooding with things in kind and with kindness. She received a flood of responses from all over the country. It is not as if we are bad people or that we do not care about each other, but we do not have the necessary leadership in Government and public policy to put such matters at the heart of what we are about. It is a question of paying one's fair share of tax and, in return, getting one's fair share of public services that are available to all on the basis of need or, in this case, being a child. This concept is core to what the Labour Party has been about for a long time and people are crying out for a set of values that are similar to our proposal. People are looking for leadership so they can be proud to be Irish and be republicans in the true sense of that word.

The universal payment for children goes alongside what we believe to be a universal right to access to education and, on the basis of need rather than ability to pay, health care. During the so-called Celtic tiger years, such values were broken up and people were set against one another. There was a climate of greed in which the Seanies of this world were up on top and could do what they liked. They were protected within the taxation system and through the way in which business was done. We need to turn around this situation and start examining our values. We need to embrace the concept of the common good, particularly the good of children, who are society's most vulnerable members. They need to be protected from poverty and exploitation. Statistics are available to show that families with children are more likely to suffer from poverty than other categories of family in this country. This is a core value. If it is taken apart in some way by the Government in next week's budget, or during tonight's vote, we will have cast aside part of what it means to be a Republic.

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