Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

When the report is published we should remember the time of year it was carried out.

I seek a debate on the announcement yesterday on child care by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. As a former teacher I do not believe it is possible to use schools in the way the Minister outlined. It is a good idea in theory but a bad one in practice. It could be done if schools had spare rooms but on a practical level a school room would have school books on tables and property belonging to teachers and pupils. It would be a recipe for disaster. It would result in teachers spending the first half hour of every day finding out what property was missing and relocating it.

We must have a proper and sincere debate on child care as highlighted by Senator White on numerous occasions. We must provide proper, dedicated child care places independent of schools. Society appears to blame school for everything. It is time we moved on. Schools are places of learning and it is not possible to use them for child care purposes.