Mary White (Fianna Fail)

This is a very interesting discussion and we are in the Seanad to raise these issues and develop policies on them. If we cannot achieve it today, we will try to get the ball over the line in the future. I totally support what Senator O'Toole said, but the reason we have such improved productivity is that we did not have the traditional industries that existed in France and Germany. We have successful high-tech capital industries where productivity is very high. That has given us the unnaturally high level we have in contrast to aging industries in Germany and France where industrial relations are very bureaucratic. Thanks to people like Senator O'Toole, we have very sophisticated, modern industrial relations based on the partnership model. This is a result of consensus between management and unions and the modern nature of much of our industry.

As many Members know, I do my level best to champion child care provision. It is an issue on which everyone in the Chamber agrees with me. I agree with Senator O'Toole that ideally a child should have its parent at home with it in the first year. While we all know the reasons people must go out to work, it is a cliche to say "exclusive social inclusion". While we do not want to exclude anybody, the failure to provide a contribution means only 20% of parents take up parental leave. The irony is that the people who cannot afford to do so are the ones who most need help.

I research the issue of child care constantly. I was walking along the Grand Canal to a meeting at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs two weeks ago when I saw a man wheeling a baby at 11 a.m. I stopped him to ask if he was bringing the child to a nursery as I wanted to obtain as much information as I could which did not come from books. He said he was Swedish and that his wife was working at Trinity College for four months. He had parental leave from Sweden which entitled him to 70% of his salary. He said that there were very high taxes in his country and I acknowledged that we paid less tax than people in any other country in the northern hemisphere.