Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge we are in stringent times but child care is an essential public good. The Minister must make it a priority within the Department. She rightly referred to the vast increase in direct payments over the previous ten or 12 years. In a national newspaper article after Christmas the Minister mooted the idea of reallocating a proportion of expenditure from direct payment to child care services. Has such a debate been had at Cabinet level or is it a policy direction which the Minister intends to pursue?

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