Mary White (Fianna Fail)

No. There were 12 people in my leaving certificate class. People could only go to school when Donagh O'Malley provided free secondary education. We must have vision in regard to how we look after children. We must have a strategic child-centred policy. We do not want anybody to be excluded. I have visited crèches in recent weeks and witnessed the high degree of intellectual stimulation available to children who attend them. However, it is children whose parents can afford to send them to crèches that benefit from such a positive start for their children. The child of a single parent who cannot afford to send his or her child to a crèche is missing out on the tremendous intellectual stimulation children attending crèches receive. In one crèche in Herbert Street, children of one and a half years of age were painting. Every three year old in the country should be entitled to 15 hours of pre-school education per week. Children usually go to school at the age of four when they attend junior infants and then senior infants. We have to change the mindset that currently prevails.

I have to be a little brash and say that in countries where there are more women in Parliament, such as in the Nordic countries where the percentage of female representation in parliament is closer to 40% or 50%, more family-friendly policies are enacted. There is no doubt that is the case in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.