From the outset, however, I had a fundamental disagreement with one aspect of child benefit because it should not be used to pay for child care for people who are out at work. We continue to have a problem with the cost of child care. There are not enough places available. In certain circumstances if a woman is pregnant and looks for a crèche place she has no hope of getting a place for a child under one year of age in most commercial crèches. The reason is the ratio of staff to children and the cost of looking after the child according to the child care regulations. While I accept that the regulations are necessary, I believe we have serious problems in relation to how a woman cares for her baby. It is good to have parental leave and extended maternity benefits but if a woman needs to go back to the workplace, maybe because she is the breadwinner in the family, we have a responsibility to provide the type of child care that she needs or to create a system of better crèche facilities for young babies. That is the huge challenge facing us and it is becoming more apparent as the population increases.