Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

We need to change all that woolly thinking. We should clarify exactly what we mean by that. Children are one thing but luring parents back to the workplace is another issue. They need confidence but they lack the required self esteem to re-enter the working community. They want to make a contribution, so good back to work programmes should be introduced to make it easy for them. The only way night courses can be encouraged, for example, is by providing child care facilities.

I would like to be at the forefront of that brain-storming exercise from which many good ideas can emerge to bring the social welfare system into the 21st century. We need real ideas to lure vulnerable young people caught in the poverty trap, including lone parents, back to work. We will get them back with no bother if we go about it in the manner planned by the Minister. Interested groups in the community must be involved, however, so that nobody will misunderstand the Minister's radical reforms.