Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too would like to compliment Deputy Kathleen Funchion and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for giving us the opportunity to debate this issue and for bringing forward the motion. I welcome the various groups in the Gallery. I think it is opportune for a number of reasons that we are having this debate now, first because the new scheme is about to come in, described as the more affordable child care scheme. I will come back to that. I know the Minister described it as the first big step in changing Irish child care forever, but there are certain issues around it that I want to come back to. Second, in the context that the Minister also raised, of budgetary preparation, I agree with Deputy Ó Laoghaire that it is much more important that we spend money on services such as child care than for all of the money to go on tax cuts. We feel very strongly in the Labour Party about the importance of spending on services, particularly on a service such as early years care, which has been neglected and which needs a significant injection of funding to bring it up to the kind of averages which are talked about in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. We fully support investing and we will fully support the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, in fighting for funding for this sector in the budget and I think that is the general view around the House.

I want to correct the record a little on our own period in government. Fianna Fáil referred to community child care. The early childhood care and education scheme, ECCE, both the first year and second year, was a considerable injection of funds into the sector and has made a very big difference to families. That was done in really tough economic times over the last-----

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