James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have made it clear that jobs are very important, but there are a number of programmes supporting families in the area of child care, such as the child care employment and training support scheme, the community employment child care schemes and after-school programmes. These programmes will help parents to get back to work and break the cycle of poverty. Equally, it is very clear that we need to have more high-quality child care and education in the preschool years to give children better outcomes. We have had a long discussion about this today and on numerous other occasions, and everybody on all sides of the House agrees that investment in the early years yields the best outcome for children and the best return for the State.

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