Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To comment on the last point, I produced a similar case to the Taoiseach not long ago of a tradesman married to a hairdresser with her own business. Their only child is ten years old which means their childcare costs are not as high. They meet all the criteria and yet they have been turned down.

Some time ago, I asked the Taoiseach about meetings of the Cabinet committee on security and related issues, including An Garda Síochána, and on the report on the future of policing. The Taoiseach told me that he had a different style as Head of Government, which is fair enough, and that he did not like having Cabinet sub-committees. He prefers to have reports like that discussed by the Cabinet as a whole. That is fine and it has always happened. However, I asked him in a follow-up question what had happened and he said the report was noted. Since then, I have seen no evidence that the report has been acted on. From my experience with a report as detailed as the one on the future of policing, I cannot see how progress on the detailed list of actions can be discussed other than at some kind of sub-committee. It is at a sub-committee that detailed actions can be commissioned by the Taoiseach for the implementation of this vital report. In our own constituency, people are complaining strongly that they simply do not see enough community policing which is at the heart of the proposals in the report on the future of policing.

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