Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I would also like to debate the issues raised by Senator O'Toole regarding the report of the national task force on obesity. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said he found it shocking that children are not allowed to run around school playgrounds because of fears of litigation. This news is neither shocking nor new. The play policy of the National Children's Office, which was published some years ago, found that litigation was forcing schools to curtail play. Play benefits many children who might not excel at sports as it provides a less rigidly organised learning opportunity. It is important that we try to tackle this problem.

This issue is not confined to schools. In the context of play policy and playgrounds, the National Children's Office found that Ireland contains more golf courses than children's playgrounds. While approximately one golf course exists per 10,000 people, one playground exists per 24,000. I would welcome a debate on this issue.

I wish to raise the report of the World Economic Forum on gender equality, which found that Ireland is 51st of 58 countries in terms of equality of economic opportunity. The employment of women in Ireland is concentrated in poorly paid or unskilled job ghettoes characterised by an absence of upward mobility or opportunity. The report stated that this situation is often the result of negative or obstructive attitudes as well as legal and social systems which use maternity laws and benefits to penalise women economically for child birth and child care responsibilities and discourage or actively prevent men from sharing family responsibilities. I wish to note two issues arising from this finding. First, men also lose out in this situation because they do not receive opportunities to spend time with their children. Second, actions must be taken in the area of child care. This issue was raised last week. Ireland is lagging in terms of ensuring that child care options as well as opportunities to spend time with children are provided to women.