Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend him on reporting back to the Seanad so comprehensively on his management of the implementation of the 2001 Act. It is certainly very comprehensive and important legislation. It has been brought into sharp relief by the constant reiteration by the media of very serious matters relating to children, specifically in terms of justice.

The fact that children have been involved in murder has confronted us all, as it should. I do not agree with Senator Norris that it indicates that our moral centre is lacking. It is a case of young people, children, who have murdered people. It confronts society and we need to consider it as a society. I do not agree that we should simply be blaming parents. We need to examine the circumstances in which parents feel unsupported and in which children commit murder. Regardless of whether one is a parent one knows that children do not arrive in the world with a gene that turns them into psychopaths or murderers. There may be a psychiatric problem or a chemical imbalance but, as we know, this is a different issue. Although children do not arrive in the world as offenders, they grow up in families with serious difficulties and in communities that are unsupported, such as west Tallaght. A report published this week stated that, despite the fact that we can now pride ourselves on being a very prosperous and wealthy country, we have pockets of great deprivation, disadvantage and poverty. Last Wednesday, I attended two pre-budget briefings, one in the morning by the End Child Poverty Coalition and the second at lunchtime by a forum which included the National Women's Council of Ireland and the National Children's Nursing Association. I am pleased that organisation is represented here today to hear the debate. Arising from the briefings, I asked the Leader of the House to arrange a debate on child care issues and we are here today, which is great. There are many other child care issues which I hope the Minister of State will debate with us in the future, specifically the whole area of the cost and provision of child care.

Before I deal with that matter, I want to raise the issue of poverty, children and child care. The whole area the Minister of State raised is not unrelated. The provision of child care is related to how we as a society view the care of children. As an economy with virtually full employment, which has almost 50% participation by women in the workforce, we have a huge number of children being cared for each day outside their own homes by people who are not their parents. There is nothing wrong with this because it works well. The Minister of State knows that one of the reasons it works well is the regulation which was put in place by his predecessors and for which he has responsibility. This is working, except for one thing, namely, the cost of child care, which was raised by the Leader of the House. The cost of child care is such that women are beginning to leave the workforce, particularly if they have a third child. The other aspect is that people who provide child care find it increasingly difficult to meet the increasing costs of being providers without creating a situation where people cannot afford to use their services.

This is a very serious issue for our economy and for providers. It is an extremely serious issue for parents but the bottom line is that it is a very serious issue for children, which is what the debate must be centred around — the welfare of children. We are lucky in this country that the providers of child care are people who want to have very high standards when it comes to providing the best possible environment for the children under their care, which is generally the case. However, we as Members of the Oireachtas and the Government must ask where our commitment to children stands. We could range this question over the area of the legislation about which Minister has spoken and what I am focusing on, child care. The fact is that investment in child care can be, and has been shown to be, an important and useful vehicle for tackling inequality. Children who live in poverty, in particular, their parents and the communities in which they live need the support of child care. I ask the Minister of State and the Government to examine how they can use high quality child care provision to ease the effects of poverty in this country.

In its submission last week, the End Child Poverty Coalition highlighted a number of issues. First, 66,000 children in Ireland live on an income below the poverty line and experience the deprivation of such basic items as a substantial meal over a two week period, or must go without heating due to lack of money. The figure of 66,000 equates to 6.5% of children as measured in the living in Ireland survey 2001 undertaken by the ESRI. The key recommendation of the End Child Poverty Coalition, which includes the National Youth Council of Ireland, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Focus Ireland, Barnardos, Pavee Point, the Children's Rights Alliance and OPEN, was to extend medical card coverage to children because of the well known link between poverty, inequality and ill-health. This is something that can be done and which we have debated in the House on several occasions. The rolling out of the Government's commitment on medical card eligibility is extremely important for many children. An increase in the FIS income threshold was referred to in the document. It states that child care provides not just the opportunity for parents to take part in the workforce, but valuable developmental opportunities for children. Child care can give children in disadvantaged areas a head start in life. I know much is happening and I am aware of this in the community in which I live. However, I am thinking specifically of disadvantaged areas and how high quality child care provision can make a difference in tackling poverty.

A good friend of mine is involved in parenting courses. She is finding a huge demand for the service she provides in a number of deprived areas in this city. There is no question but that linking the issue of parenting and child care is very important not in the context of blame, but in the context of support, which is where child care provision comes in. How can we support the many single parents who are under pressure? I meet many single parents and I always ask them when are they doing a training course and getting to work. They say they cannot work because of the cost of crèches and there are support places in Nenagh for single parents. This is how we should examine how to support parents, identify problems and take responsibility as a society for our children in particular.

I hope we will return to this debate and give more time to the whole issue of the cost of child care. The fact that so many parents are now at work is great for the economy. I want to emphasise the importance of examining and developing a policy around support for the child care industry. Approximately 20 years ago when I began in journalism, one of the main issues about which I used to write was crèches and pre-school provision. In those days, while it was very difficult to get a good quality place for a child, one could hardly get the issue on the agenda. The issue is now on the agenda but we pay lip service to it. While almost 50% of the workforce is female, the fact remains that we do not attach sufficient importance to child care. The fact that there is not paid parental leave is an indicator in this regard as is the fact that we do not provide support for child care providers and parents for whom, according to the submission by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to the forum last week, the cost of child care is like a second mortgage. Increasingly, half people's wages are going on child care.

Central Statistics Office figures indicate that while the rate of participation by women was at 50.7%, in May 2004 it went down to 49.4%. Surveys indicate that parents, the vast majority of whom are women, are leaving the workforce because of the cost of child care with which they cannot cope. The Government must pay attention to this aspect. I will be asking that we return to the subject again and that we put the matter at the top of the agenda.