James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. There are a number of schemes across the country. I am aware of two in County Wexford, one in Bunclody and the other in Wexford town, where Ferns Diocesan Youth Service, FDYS, provides childcare schemes for the children of sometimes vulnerable adults or adults with serious addiction or mental health issues. On the provision of childcare, the schemes are more in the nature of intervention and welfare-type schemes. Their funding will be cut under the new scheme. If they lose their funding, they will be gone. The children benefit greatly from the schemes which help to set them up for school and provide them with food and support. That support will no longer be available. Their parents will not be benefiting from work activation programmes, given that sometimes they cannot read or write and are from very difficult backgrounds where there may be mental health issues. The FDYS tells me that its schemes will be gone. We hear about similar situations across the country; for example, there is a similar case in Carlow. I ask that something be done to ensure the schemes will be kept in place. The scheme in Bunclody receives €36,000 a year and is providing phenomenal support and value for money for the children. It is about the children. I am not worried about the parents but about the children and the support they are receiving which needs to be continued.

See this speech in context