Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is surreal that on the day after a budget, the leader of the country is not questioned by the largest party in the so-called Opposition. I will take this opportunity to question him because the budget produced by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents was billed in advance as a reparations budget, one which was meant to compensate those who were sacrificed in the eight-year bailout of the bankers and developers. People are looking at the budget details over their cornflakes this morning and asking whether this is it. While very little was given back to low and middle income workers and pensioners and even less was given back to young people who are unemployed, builders, landlords and people who are due an inheritance were rewarded as were businesses, which are due a windfall.

As long as the Government is working off a tiny fiscal space of €1.2 billion, it is inevitable that life will not improve for the majority of people. Today's edition of The Irish Times features a comment piece arguing that the budget no longer matters because the figure involved is only €1.3 billion. The Anti-Austerity Alliance agrees with that view. The debate about the fiscal space is completely false because the vast majority of the €230 billion produced in Ireland every year is untapped and untaxed.

In the time available to me, I will focus on one measure, namely, the much lauded centrepiece proposal on child care. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the proposal for the nation and families. The new payment will be means tested for a relatively small number of households with a maximum income of €47,500 who happen to have their children in a crèche for 40 hours per week. How many families will gain from the payment?

The universal subsidy ends at the age of three years, but, obviously, child care continues for a lot longer.

My main issue is this. Will the Taoiseach clarify whether people who use childminders will be included in the scheme? There is talk out of two or three sides of the Government's mouth on the issue. Nurses, shift and part-time workers and those on zero-hour contracts do not have their children in a crèche from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but they may have a child care worker or a minder collecting their children, yet they have completely been left out of this proposal. Will they be included and, if so, when?

Where is Scandinavian child care system people in this country were promised? We know that UNICEF recommends that a figure of 1% of GDP be spent; we spend 0.2%. The Scandinavian countries have higher corporation tax rates. In Denmark the rate is 24.5%; in Norway, 27% and Sweden, 22%. As long as Ireland continues to be a tax haven, we will not be able to provide affordable child care services in this country.

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