Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

She is ramming this Bill through, taking the supports away and implementing legislation she herself disagrees with. That is why it is so wrong. The Minister is not convinced about her own policy. She comes to the House and lands her colleagues, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, in it in order to get something out of them. That is not the way a Minister should act. Deputy Conway is correct; there are so many ways we can proceed, not just by using schools. There are so many empty departmental properties nationally that we need to use better. We have invested so much in child care, including in the early childhood scheme. We all know of amazing community child care facilities, some of which are open after 3 p.m. Much of the physical and capital model is in place for what the Minister wants to do. Let us put the extra bits of the jigsaw in place. It should not cost much money. Deputy Conway is right. Since I came into this House, I have seen the silo effect with Departments not giving a damn what other Departments are doing and it is part of the reason we are where we are. That has to stop.

Let us postpone the change. The Minister agrees with us that the change is wrong so she should postpone it and spend the next year getting all the extra bits of the jigsaw in place in terms of child care. Much of it is done but what we need are heads to be knocked together in Departments to get the extra bits in place.

We must have some respect for the organisations dealing with the situation on a daily basis and for every Member of this House who is also dealing with the situation on a daily basis and knows the impact it will have on people. If we set a deadline to put the final bits of the jigsaw in place, in terms of child care, then we can actually achieve something out of this.

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