Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin, in particular Deputy Funchion, for giving us the opportunity to discuss this important subject. As we all know, our children are our future and we must try to promote and protect them at every opportunity we get. I agree fully with some of the comments that have been made. The steep costs accrued by parents for childcare places them in a vulnerable position, one that they cannot afford. It is clear that, even before the coronavirus started, many crèches were in a serious situation in terms of keeping going and providing a service. It will be much more difficult for them if they can get going again in September. We hope they can, but I fear that will be impossible for many. It is sad because the people working in those crèches were capable, properly trained and vetted and worked under strict regulations. If we do not have crèches, many mothers will not be able to return to work.

People working in crèches do not get holidays. I do not know what they do. Perhaps they draw from their stamps. They are paid very low wages. This is not fair or right. We want properly trained, responsible people dealing with our children. As the saying goes, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

I congratulate Deputies Rabbitte and O'Gorman on their appointments and I wish them the best in their new roles. We are facing a serious predicament come September if the schools do not reopen. I am very worried. If the schools were going to reopen in September a lot of the necessary measures would already be in place or being put in place. If the schools do not reopen fully, we will need to organise extra space in community halls and churches. If school buses cannot cater for all of the children on one run they will have to do another run later and work later in the evening. All of those things need to be done but I do not think anything has been done.

Unlike the Labour Party Deputies, I am not criticising the new Minister for Education and Skills or political points scoring. We all remember what the Labour Party did to the mothers of Ireland who raised the current generation of people that are running the country. They cut their pensions. For all of the motions and talking done in the last Dáil they still have not got their pensions back yet. Instead of working with the new Minister, Deputies Alan Kelly and Ó Ríordáin chose to take a pot shot at her. We must work together to ensure that our schools are reopened in September. There is an awful lot of work to be done. If we cannot finish it off next week I am happy for the Dáil to sit another week because this is important. People were hurt about the rural pubs not being allowed to reopen. They are listening to hear if the schools are going to reopen fully. If they do not, many mothers and fathers will not be able to go back to work. Parents have to mind their children. If the schools do not reopen and the crèches are not operating many parents will not be able to go back to work.

The Minister and Minister of State are in government. They must collaborate and work to ensure that if schools and crèches need more money to deal with the Covid regulations they will get it. They need to be assured that they will get it. One cannot live in the wind. If these people are to provide a service they must get funding. It is clear to me that more funding is needed for the schools and crèches. It is our children and the future of Ireland we are talking about and we need to get our act together.

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