Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I thank Senator Mooney for sharing his time with me. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, well with his new responsibilities. I have spoken in the House about child care on three or four occasions over the past year. On the first two or three occasions, I called for five things to be delivered on. First, I asked for overall responsibility for the entire child care sector to be given to a single Cabinet Minister, but I am happy that a Minister of State has been given these duties. It is a welcome move. I ask the Minister of State to furnish Senators with a copy of the flow chart in the new office so we can understand how it will work. I assure him that everyone involved in this area has given a great welcome to the appointment of Ms SyldaLangford to her new position. People have great trust and confidence in Ms Langford. The second thing I spoke strongly about in this House was the need for extended maternity leave. I thirdly asked for funding for parents, whether they are at home or in the workplace, to be increased. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that all those things have been done. I welcome the progress that has been made, which is outlined in the main motion before the House. I do not have any difficulty with that, other than to state that, as a matter of course, Governments should not table motions congratulating themselves. To seek support for such a motion is a fairly serious political error. It is better to be congratulated without having asked for such congratulation.

I feel equally strongly about two further issues which have been raised in the Fine Gael amendment. It is a mistake not to provide for paid paternity leave and extended parental leave. The fourth thing I asked for was that parents should benefit from some form of support when they are on parental leave. I ask the Minister of State to look closely at the fifth thing I asked for, which has already been discussed by Senator Cummins. We need to have trust and confidence in the safety of the system. When parents leave their children in supervision, they should have confidence in the facility in question, regardless of whether it is located in a school, a playschool or a pre-school or whether it is provided by a community group or a group of parents. We owe it to parents to give them such confidence.

As a priority I ask the Minister of State to find a way of co-ordinating qualifications. A person may be a teacher, a classroom assistant, a community worker or a person may have a child care qualification. However, there should be a clear vetting arrangement so that people would know the level of qualification. They do not all have to be the same. The whole question of choice is crucial in this area. People should be able to make the choice whether they want to send their child to a pre-school, a school, play-school, community group or whatever. All those choices should be available and they should not be in competition with each other. I ask the Minister of State to ensure the vetting of qualifications.

I disagree with the idea that these places can ever be self-sustaining and pay for themselves. That will not happen. It will take more money. The point made by Senator Mooney is correct. In fact, I could give other examples even from his constituency. The Life Start office in Sligo is extraordinarily successful also and there are a number of areas in Monaghan and Cavan of which I am aware. They are doing extraordinary work and the variety is attractive.