Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

Clearly, Senator O'Toole is not knocking on doors these times and the issue of work-life balance does not arise for some of us. However, work-life balance must be considered in the context of family friendly policies. The Government has done little in this regard. Parental leave, for instance, is still unpaid and Ireland is one of the few European countries that does not have paid parental leave. Unsurprisingly, the uptake of such leave is much lower as a result than one would expect. Child care costs remain high with many people paying more for their children's care than their mortgage. In a number of cases I have come across recently, couples pay more than €1,000 a month for child care. There is little or no preschool provision and no commitment has been made in this regard. More parents experience long commutes to work, resulting in them having less time with their children. The concept of work-life balance is fine in theory but it is not being put into practice through family friendly policies in Ireland.

A debate on child care would be useful so that we could review the Government's performance on a range of issues. I am especially concerned that the Competitiveness Council has again pointed out that the failure to provide preschool places for all our children is having a serious effect on the economy. The education of children is an important part of preparing the workforce to deal with future challenges.

As Senator O'Toole said, anybody listening to earlier news bulletins must be concerned about the unfolding story about what appears to be a paedophile ring centred in Dublin. I reiterate that we must ensure all our children and parents who need information on how to deal with emerging technologies, including the Internet and use of websites, should enabled to obtain it in an accessible way. Localising such provision through schools would be very useful. Perhaps the Leader, who is a former Minister with responsibility for education, could give serious consideration to how that could be managed quickly.