Mary White (Fianna Fail)

There is a need for a debate in the Seanad on employment, even though there is virtually no unemployment, because we must look to the future. A business will not survive unless it is constantly innovating, day and night. We cannot presume that the current level of unemployment, at 4%, will remain.

On the total pre-budget Estimates figure of €48 billion, I would plead with the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to convey to the Minister that with the small sum of €18 million the Government could roll out a national cervical screening programme. There are 1 million women who are not able to participate in this programme, whereas there is a special scheme in the mid-west in which 70,000 women can participate. This is a black and white test. If the national screening programme is carried out, women can be saved from dying of cervical cancer. The €18 million needed is a modest sum in the context of the total budget spend.

My colleague, Senator Kenneally, spoke of broadband. Ireland's level of broadband roll-out is one of the lowest among OECD countries. This is part and parcel of industry keeping up to date and innovating. There is a need for a more widespread roll-out.

For the past 18 months I have been on a mission in the Seanad in trying to get child care dealt with. Child care should be part of the essential infrastructure in the country. It should be decoupled as soon as possible from children's allowance. Children's allowance is for clothing and food for children. It is crazy to have coupled it with child care expenses. While I hope the Government will substantially increase children's allowance for the stay at home parents, the facts are that practically 57% of women in the working age cohort with children under five years of age are working. These people need child care expenses. It should have nothing to do with children's allowance. There should be tax reliefs, vouchers or whatever.

We need a bold comprehensive plan for child care. We cannot be worrying about every group being equally treated. If the Government party of which I am a member does not get child care correct, it will pay the price. The number of women who are in the workforce today has contributed to the Celtic tiger. There would have been no Celtic tiger without the women and, generally speaking, the women are carrying the can for looking after the care and protection of children. I am looking for 60,000 extra child care places over the next five years to meet the demand. There are waiting lists, etc., and I need not engage in repetition.

The other point close to my heart is that Ireland should be an idyllic place for older people to live. Just as this is not a child friendly society, it is not an elderly friendly society. By the end of January I intend to bring before the House a document on a new approach to aging and ageism, similar in vein to my child care document. I am calling for the Government to hasten on the matter of pensions so that a person who retires has a decent standard of living. Why should people who have given their life's work for their country accept that their standard of living will drop when they retire? The idea is cracked.

My main concern is about child care. The Minister did not explain in detail in the Estimates what he will do in regard to child care. I hope the strategy for child care will be one with vision. If it is not, I can do no more about it.