Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can respond to that. I discussed the 30 hours with the Immigrant Council. The approach to this was to bring the Bill to the House, debate it and bring it to Committee Stage so we could bring everybody with us to that Stage, work it through and deliver a result. We could increase the amount for board and lodging, negotiate the amount of hours for work and listen to everybody's viewpoint. That includes the Immigrant Council, the au pair agencies and host families. That will bring everybody with us. Is that not what the new Government and Dáil reform is about, to bring people with us?

I certainly would have been very foolish to have walked out and not to have been true to myself. There are 20,000 families who have listened to us debate this. In essence, everybody, aside from Deputy Mattie McGrath and my party colleagues, is opposed to this Bill. They oppose it on the grounds that it is employment law. If we had the legislation last February before this ever arose, we would not be having this conversation because we would have protected those au pairs. Now, we do not protect them. I want to be accountable to the people. I wish to convey the voices of the 20,000 families. I am talking about youngsters coming from Spain, France and Germany who want to engage with and embrace our culture. They might want to go to Galway International Arts Festival this week or to the races in the following week, and they go to those events in the car with their families. On the other hand they might go to Dublin to meet their friends, go out and experience all that is good about it.

Like the Minister, Deputy Zappone, I am a feminist. I stand up for women and I support the working mother. I support the mother who wishes to move forward and be progressive. That is why we need this support. The Minister has not once heard me mention child care in this regard at all. This is a cultural and educational experience. It is also about the idea of supporting and embracing the family. That is the essence of this Bill. This is what I am paid to do and what I expect myself to do. It is what I expect all of us to do - to embrace the ethos of the Bill and bring it to Committee Stage with an open mind to iron it out, support the families and hear what the Immigrant Council and the au pair agencies have to say about it.

Most importantly, it will prevent it going to the black market and being driven underground. That is what we will do and what we will deliver. That is what those 20,000 families will be left with, namely, no option. They will see themselves as criminals. However many more cases there are, whether it is 50 or 100, from today forward if the Bill is defeated tomorrow, because I will press it to a vote, we will say to families that they are now employers. Their day of having an au pair will be gone. They will be left with no other option. That is what the option is, but I have brought it to the floor. I have no more to say. I thank Deputies for their time.

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