Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

Senator O'Rourke referred to the debate over whether it is better for children to have their mother at home or working. Saying that it is good for the child to have the mother at home can be taken as a criticism of working mothers. The debate should not be about all or nothing. As a State, we should try to promote and facilitate a flexible approach so that a person can do both at the same time, for example, working part-time and spending the remainder of the day at home. Parents can share the burdens in different ways, and people can dip in and out at various stages of their lives as it suits them. That is the way forward regarding the measures we implement.

I will relate my own experience. I have a child aged 13 months whom my partner minds in the home. There are many reasons for that, and choice is only one. Certain factors coincided and it became our preference too. It would be great for my little girl to have a day here and there in a crèche where she would have contact with other children. It is good that she has the chance to be at home with one of her parents, and that is obviously beneficial for the parents too. However, children also benefit from contact with their peers. If parents in the home had access to child care facilities which could be used for one day or even one morning per week, that would be a positive development.

Like Senator Ross, I welcome the provision of a crèche for Members and staff of Leinster House. However, I am worried about the cost, both from my own point of view and even more so for those who earn less than me. I do not need to use a crèche every day but it would be helpful to avail of such a facility once a week. I hope the new crèche will provide that type of flexibility. I have brought my little girl, Pippa, to Leinster House on several occasions and it is difficult to know where to take her. Bringing her to the office may mean others are disturbed. Is it appropriate to take her to the Members' bar? That is usually where we have found ourselves. I hope the crèche will provide flexible services for Members and staff, of both genders, who have children.

As part of the Government's plan to promote breastfeeding, one of the issues it raises is the need for employers to support breastfeeding mothers. Leinster House would be a good place to start with this initiative as there is limited support in this regard, although this is obviously not an intentional policy. The Government must take positive action to help breastfeeding mothers and parents in general. Parents who wish to bottle-feed their babies should also be afforded suitable accommodation in Leinster House.

The October edition of the INTO's In Touch magazine includes two items relevant to this debate. One outlines the findings of a survey of members on child care issues. This indicates that three out of four respondents use the services of carers who take their children into their homes. Policy in this area must do much more to support childminders, who are a major element of any comprehensive child care solution. Much of their work is done in the black market. One of the measures proposed by the Labour Party is that people who look after children in the home should be allowed to earn a certain amount tax free. This would regularise the position of childminders and promote better pay. A person looking after his or her grandchild could earn some money without having to worry about tax issues, registration and so on.

The survey's findings on parents' main demands are interesting. Some 87% selected as very important the provision of better parental leave, including paid parental leave, 86% demanded tax relief for child care costs and 81% called for an extension of paid maternity and paternity leave. In addition, 66% of respondents would like incremental credit for years spent at home in full-time child care, 63% called for greater ease of job sharing and the same percentage demanded increased child benefit. This indicates the importance of flexibility and that people should have the opportunity to spend time with their children, whether they wish to work full-time or part-time in the home. This flexibility is particularly important to working parents. It is not a question of whether parents should be encouraged to look after their children at home or to avail of child care options that allow them to return to work. The objective should be to promote flexible arrangements and establish the financial and other measures which allow parents to have that choice.

Another article more relevant to today's debate is an interview with Professor Christine Pascal and Dr. Tony Bertram, authors of a book entitled Effective Early Learning — Case Studies in Improvement. The article includes some important points and I recommend it to Members. An issue it highlights, and one that has been raised by Members today, is that it is often forgotten that early childhood education is a societal issue. It is not an issue relevant only to women but one which all societies must address because one of the measures of civilisation is the "level of care and stimulation that it puts into the raising of children". The interviewees outline five key policy issues in regard to child care, including child poverty, welfare to work issues, introducing children to the "healthy life agenda", social exclusion and underachievement within certain social groups.

Another issue highlighted in this article is the importance of the quality of child care services and the training of service providers. The Government has largely been concerned with providing tax breaks for the providers of child care facilities. While this is welcome, we must begin to focus on the issue of quality of care, as we have begun to do in regard to nursing homes. The provision of early childhood education is not just about building and staffing facilities. A successful programme depends on the provision of quality education which deals with the five policy issues I have outlined. The importance of ensuring staff are highly trained is something the Government must address. Another important element highlighted in the article is the need to integrate services in order to meet the needs of parents and children in a holistic way, through such measures as family support, community provision and so on.

One way to implement significant improvements in early childhood education, in those situations where the infrastructure is in place and there is adequate provision for staff training, is through the use of underused school buildings. The Minister for Education and Science recently announced the building of a number of schools through public private partnerships. I hope this will not detract from the agenda that schools must be used for the community and not as a means of generating private profit. Schools offer an ideal means of providing early childhood education on a community basis.