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

I do not recognise the OECD or the European Commission as neutral observers. They are biased, in the sense that they are obsessed with the whole notion of economic growth and, in the case of countries which have a falling population, with trying to get as many people into the workforce as possible. They are pump priming the dual income trap, as they did in the US.

In response to the Minister's question on what we might do, I would take the evidence from Robert Putnam's latest book, Our Kids, and examine what the American model did. It destroyed social capital and created a deep divide in the country. We have to support parents on low incomes, in particular lone parents who lose out in a dual income trap society. However, we should listen to what Putnam said. It would be far better to go in the direction in which we were going, namely be neutral and give a cash payment to parents. That is what gives them security at the most critical point in time when we are growing our young children's brains.

All of the evidence, including the latest Growing Up In Ireland survey, shows that we should favour all parents, and not discriminate against some, which, I am afraid, is what is being done.

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