Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I welcome the comments of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform regarding the parents of Irish-born children. It is a welcome move and I compliment him. I now ask him to consider the many thousands of families accommodated in direct provision, in particular in Mosney. Families are living in such accommodation for years. It is not appropriate for young children to grow up in an atmosphere where they never see their parents cook a meal or do normal family activities, as would be the case in household accommodation. The Minister should continue his good work and address this problem.

It will come as no surprise that a CSO survey published in the past couple of days shows women earn one third less than their male counterparts, and are still the principal carers of children. Many women with young children under the age of three years choose to stay at home. That may be due to a lack of child care facilities, or it may be because parents decide it is in the better interests of their children that one parent stays at home. We need a full debate on the issues of family and how parents manage their households and children. We should examine affordable child care provision and ensure parents who opt to stay at home are looked after. Do they do so because they do not have sufficient maternity leave and must jeopardise their work?