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

I thank Sinn Féin for moving this important motion. We all saw those people who came up so organised last week and highlighted their plight. It was one of the largest crowds that has been outside the gates for much of the time I have been here. The story now is this has gone as far as parents having to ensure they have a childcare place before they actually have the child. It has gone this far because they see their neighbours and other parents suffering while trying to find childcare places. They cannot find them and places are closing down. Some 97 places have already closed around our country and more are contemplating closing. The providers cannot pay their way. Likewise, many of the childcare workers are earning as little as €17,000 annually, which is not acceptable.

Long gone is the day when grandparents and mothers minded the children at home. Grandparents played an integral part in keeping the children out of the fire and the barrel of water, and the children did jobs for them. That day is long gone. Families need two parents to continue to work to keep the roof over their heads. However, it is happening now that many of them cannot do so, with one having to stay at home. The Minister has to do something about this, as he promised he would. He has let people down; there would not have been so many of them outside the gate of Leinster House if he had not done so. He is compromising the situation of these families because he is too busy looking after refugees and asylum seekers. That is not fair on our children.

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