David Norris (Independent)

Members have just witnessed a fairly unedifying spectacle. However, it is to be expected because we are in the run up to an election. All the parties, along with some of the Independents, are trying to offer more to the electorate and accuse others of racism and xenophobia. It is all totally and pathetically irrelevant.

It is perfectly obvious that this House is being used. I was astonished to receive the preliminary Order of Business and to find that Private Members' time was occupied by this motion, which was signed by the Department of Health and Children rather than by the Government. This is not the intended purpose of this House. Motions should be generated by Members and if the Government Members do not have the wit or imagination to so do, the time should be handed over to those who do. It is about time that everyone, including Ministers and all parties, treated this House with a little more respect.

I take an unpopular view of the child care issue. Obviously, I believe that children should be cared for. They are vulnerable people whose educational and welfare needs must be met and the State has responsibilities in this regard. However, I am sometimes astonished by the claims made in newspapers. I read interviews with people who have two cars, foreign holidays, a big new house and two children, who want the taxpayer to produce money for them to have more. They should not get it.

I make a serious point when I state that this tiny planet faces a cataclysm of overpopulation. While I have been making this point for years, eminent scientists now state the same thing. Instead of providing people with tax incentives to have more children, I rejoice in population decline. I include Europe, where people caterwaul about the decline in population, and am delighted the population is dwindling somewhere on the planet, particularly in those countries where the ecological footprint is proportionately much more disastrous.

We should think of this issue in a global context and not simply in terms of electoral advantage, without considering it fully. Since I left school, the population of this planet has doubled and it will increase by another 50% within 25 years. We simply cannot cope. The global icecaps are melting and the appalling problem of overpopulation lies behind resource wars, hatred and struggles. As a human and, I hope, a humane person, I have no dislike for families or children. However, they should be born into situations where they are genuinely cherished.

The Minister's speech rang with money. Are we getting good value? I know the Minister and he is a decent and caring family man. However, I have heard the most astonishing amounts, such as €20,000 or €40,000, as examples of what people are obliged to pay to keep a couple of children in a crèche. Why do they pay so much? If one has a number of children in a crèche, where does this enormous sum go? Has anyone conducted a cost benefit analysis to establish what is the most efficient way of spending money?

As a matter of principle, people should be encouraged to have two children only. It is in the planet's interest. While I am 61 years old and will be gone before we are drowned by the melting icecaps, if the other Members have any real vision of what they are getting their children into, they should take this issue seriously.

The question of child benefits has been turned into a issue of racism or xenophobia. Xenophobia is almost as bad as racism. It means "fear of foreigners", from the Greek. I hope we do not have an unjustified fear of foreigners. Certain groups appear in every race and we should not accept anyone, simply because they are Polish, Yugoslav, black or whatever. We should consider people's quality. If this money is being granted, it should also go to such children, who are still children, whatever their origin. However, I want the payments to be monitored to ensure that the money goes towards the children's welfare. The taxpayer is entitled to know that this is the case.

I have a point about the wonderful notion of "family" about which I have been preached at for so long. I agree that the family, rightly regulated and filled with love and mutual respect is a wonderful institution. However, in this regard, where is it now? Will people not take any responsibility for their children? I have heard programmes on the wireless in which people stated that the children would be cared for by their extended family and grandparents and then asked who would pay the grandparents. While I am becoming a grumpy old man, I have a certain amount to be grumpy about. Why should the taxpayer pay people to look after their children's children? Everyone appears to want money. I do not have children. I do not want children, because for reasons with which I will not burden this House, it is unlikely that the kind of activities in which I occasionally and sporadically engage will generate children.