Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On Sunday last the Sunday Business Post revealed the draft guidelines for the personal insolvency service and outlined that debt deals might force mothers to stay at home and how women could be forced to give up their jobs. The article quoted the draft guidelines and stated: "Where a person is working and paying for child care as a consequence of his or her employment the cost of child care should not exceed the income of employment". When asked about this on Monday, the Taoiseach said he would find it incredible that somebody would say a person was required to give up work to meet these changes. That is what is outlined in the draft guidelines. Did the Taoiseach know what was going on and was he aware of the draft guidelines when he commented? Had he read the draft guidelines? He may in his comments have been trying to dampen the understandable anger at such a proposal.

What we are witnessing is a degree of incoherence in the Government in that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has confirmed the guidelines in his comments to The Irish Times and Irish Examiner and his understanding of the rationale behind them and the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, stated on "Newstalk" this morning that the guidelines might have been drawn up by a man and that that was the cause of it all. This incoherence adds to the anger and disbelief. I put it to the Taoiseach that what this represents is micro-management and nanny statism as it affects the personal insolvency service. This highlights the fundamental flaw that there is no independent oversight of the banks and how they propose to deal with customers and those in mortgage arrears. We are all hearing this from people across the country in their daily dealings with the banks.

The guidelines are anti-women, anti-family and anti-employment. In the first instance, child care programmes are essential for the development of children, while work is an essential part of people's lives. Under the personal insolvency framework, they should not be forced out of work. The sustainability of family income and careers will depend on security of tenure in employment in the medium to longer term. Will the Taoiseach confirm that people who earn less than their child care costs will not be forced to give up their jobs and that what is proposed in the draft guidelines will not be included in the guidelines when published?

See this speech in context