Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a difference between Boston and Berlin so it is perfectly valid to use that in a question because in Boston, as in the rest of the United States, there is no statutory right to leave to help parents, whereas there is in Germany and Scandinavian countries. The Minister gave me no answer as to what fundamentally he would do differently. He seems to agree with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, about the measures the Government has announced, which absolutely discriminate at scale against parents who decide that their best approach, whatever way, is to raise children at home. Fine Gael seems to have nothing for that. It gave a €100 increase in the tax credit. The total value of that is approximately €7 million as set out in the budget. The Government has given four times as much for sheep welfare as for the welfare of those parents raising children at home. That speaks about where the Minister stands. I hear the Minister promise possible increases in that tax credit. I would like to see the provisions that are given to one parent given to all. Let us treat parents equally, as they do in Scandinavia. The Minister is not going in that direction, he is going in the Boston direction. That is a mistake and it is wrong. I would oppose the Minister’s leadership of Fine Gael if that is the direction he wants to go in. I would be interested in what the people behind him think.

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