The current Minister was the Leader of the Opposition in the Seanad when Barry Andrews addressed the Seanad and said the provision of aftercare for young people leaving State care situations was a postcode lottery and that it needed to be worked on even if additional resources were required. It is sad that the amendments proposed by the Opposition last January were not accepted by the House. We would be compounding the hurt and disappointment if this amendment was to fail also at the second bite at it. The Government is now made up of the two main voices for the arguments in support of this amendment last January. I fully supported the amendment and, with minor adjustments, my wording mirrors the amendments tabled by Deputy Charles Flanagan, who was then the Fine Gael spokesperson on children, and the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who was then the Labour Party spokesperson on health and children. We made a strong argument in support of the amendment, which created a division in the House. It was defeated not by the margins we know in the House today, but by 79 votes to 67. Compared to current numbers, we ran the Government of the day close. I hope the two major parties involved in proposing that amendment, who are now in government with such a huge majority, will ensure the statutory entitlement to aftercare is enshrined in this legislation.

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