Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The escalation in this allowance was very welcome when it happened. I do not know what the Government-appointed gurus are coming up with or what great solutions they will provide. I can certainly prophesise here that whatever solution they come up with, there will be an aggrieved portion of the electorate which will not like it. The mother or father who elects to stay at home must be looked after. Under the terms of the Constitution, he or she must be looked after because it makes mention of those who work in the home. There will be very fertile ground for legal cases if these people are not attended to in the mix of solutions to child care.

Part of me feels that a child who is cared for in his or her own home is better off for it. I do not mean it so much in terms of the love of a father or mother, although this is very important. It has to do with a child being in his or her own surroundings — being in a room, kitchen, garden or cot that he or she knows. If I can digress into my personal experience, when I started teaching and had young children, I taught for two hours a day until my children started primary school. My mother, who had been a teacher, advised me against putting my children into a crèche, which were just beginning to be order of the day. She told me to get a housekeeper and that my children would be better off in their own home. I often thought it was good advice; children are better off in their own familiar surroundings. This is why one sees perplexity and puzzlement on children's faces as they are being dragged out of cars and into crèches. What is going on in their minds when this is happening? Are they thinking "where am I going today, what is going to happen and when will I be picked up?". I wish those who are formulating this policy good luck. Theirs is a difficult task.