Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I was not going to intervene but I am grateful that Senator Quinn has raised this issue. It provides justification for a debate on child care in the autumn.

Speaking as chairman of the County Leitrim child care committee, there is unquestionably a need to debate the emphasis being placed by Government policy on the manner in which child care is funded. Increasingly, the view is that the development of the child is being neglected at the expense of providing what are effectively baby-minding services and nothing more. In other words, we are fuelling an economy to encourage women to leave the home and enter the workforce. This encouragement is fuelled partly by the need for additional skills in the economy.

For some years under the equal opportunities programme, it has been a matter of policy to provide funding for child care facilities, although some may say it is inadequate and I agree that we need to spend more. We must debate where the emphasis should be placed in future. Are we to provide nothing more than a baby-minding service for those who have no choice but to work, while neglecting the development of the child by not providing properly structured programmes for children in the mornings and afternoons? I welcome Senator Quinn's intervention in this regard. As a former Minister for Education, the Leader may also wish to express a view on the matter.