Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, to the House. We did not get many opportunities to discuss issues when we were in the Dáil but it is good to get such an opportunity here in the Seanad.

I can take up where Senator Ó Domhnaill left off because I come from the same county. I support his aspiration for the area to get some form of special dispensation, although I would say the officials from the Department of Finance are probably horrified. I will re-emphasise the case.

Over the past ten years, Ireland has come to what is seen as being at the forefront of economic development. People from eastern Europe in particular would ask how little Ireland became such an economic success story. My case for special dispensation for the north west is partly because access to the area has always been dependent on travelling through the North. It has not been a place where people wished to go. Tourists arriving from any ports or airports were told to stay away from the area of Ulster and as Donegal was north of the North, it left us worst hit.

Why am I stating this in the context of an economic debate? Given that Ireland has experienced a rising tide and most counties have gained from it, many issues are handled by Departments, especially the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, through co-financing. This is not a problem for many counties because they have businesses and a good turnover of indigenous and outside commerce. I have often given statistics comparing what Donegal County Council can raise on its rate base with what Cork City Council can raise. They are not comparable.

We have not had a tradition of big business in Donegal for various reasons. We have been in the wrong location for everything because of the Troubles so we have been as economically deprived as Derry, Limavady and Strabane. One could consider their statistics and the east-west divide which exists in Ulster.

We are now told the rising tide means we can well afford to contribute to our own basic infrastructural development, but this is incorrect. One small example is Fruit of the Loom in Buncrana. That town relied on Fruit of the Loom for 52% of its rate base, which it lost when the company shut its operation there, but the town is still expected to co-fund projects. There is much small indigenous industry in the town and I hope other industries will locate there, but they are not there at the moment.

I ask the Minister of State to bring this back to the Tánaiste for him to think about it. We seek this dispensation because we need it rather than want it. Historically, we have not had investment for real reasons. We did not have the ability to develop the A5 road because we had no jurisdiction over it and we had no ability to implement a Derry to Dublin air service. We could not put a public service obligation on that because we had nothing to do with the service.

In recent years we have worked together to try to maximise the north west as an entity, and much of this is taking place because of the new dispensation in the North. We are in a new scenario which I would like the Department to recognise. It can then help us to help ourselves. We are not putting our hand out, indicating we are a basket case. We have great potential in the north west but it is not getting a chance to be realised.

In the small amount of time I have I wish to raise a few other issues. These matters concern those who work, those who do not, those who are unable to and those who are too young to work. With regard to those who work, we heard some Senators looking for people to be taxed to the hilt. This is very wrong because while we require an income as a financial basis for Government business, we could tax people out of working.

There are difficult cases where people do not work because a medical card, for example, is too valuable to lose. If these people lose their medical card, they lose access to doctors, medicines, the free leaving certificate, the clothing allowance and others. The associations with the medical card are so vast that unless we continue to incentivise people to get into work, we will be doing a disservice to everybody.

Next week we will debate the issue of child care with the Minister for Health and Children. The question is whether we need another category, as some people are on the dole, some require family income supplement and everybody else is over a certain limit. Regardless of whether these people over the limit earn €40,000, €70,000 or €120,000, they are all be treated the same. Any reasonable examination would indicate this is not a fair system.

Data must be obtained so people can assess who are the people we are talking about. It again comes down to the potential of discouraging people from working. It is important that people can work. I advise community groups that although it is very difficult to gather this information, it should be done in the interests of creating a case. There may be a requirement to create a new category within the child care issue for people with medical cards but I would baulk at this because everything is linked back to the medical card. Certain people are just over the threshold and may be disenfranchised.

People on a relatively low income may still be over the FIS threshold and we must ensure they do not throw their hands in the air and decide it is easier to stay at home. If these people choose to do so, that is fine, but we must find a mechanism where all the pain is not levelled on one category of person.

Many people are unable to work. Old age pensioners and widows have found their cases being improved through pension rights and medical cards. My contribution seems to be geared around medical cards at this stage. I would like to think such action would continue and we would look after the people who had a hand in creating the Celtic tiger.

I would like to think the Minister will continue to focus on those who are disabled, especially with regard to mental health. The matter has had much attention in the Seanad since I was elected and has been to the forefront in my work, particularly as a former chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Considerable work is being done in this area in the provision of voluntary and sheltered housing, on which I must commend the relevant Departments. Sheltered work programmes also exist. The facilities required to tackle substance abuse and misuse, be it food, alcohol or drug abuse, need to be addressed. However, I hope other issues in the mental health sector will be addressed as we approach the introduction of budget 2008.

Many people commence work at too young an age. Coming from Donegal, which has suffered a high number of job losses due to the loss of the textile industry that was based there, which was predominantly female oriented, we are at risk of suffering job losses in the construction industry, which will impact on employment among the male population. We must examine how to maximise job opportunities for our children.

Early interventions in the child care sector are required. The child care debate should focus not only on money but take account of the educational content of programmes in which children participate in the child care sector. The use of music therapies and art therapies in early childhood to assist in the bonding of mothers with their children would help prevent problems developing later. They would result in us not having to pay as much to deal with dysfunctional children in the education system at a later stage. We need to examine provisions for children up to the age of six. While I could focus on many other issues, if we focused on the provision for children up to the age of six in terms of educational content and mother and child bonding, children would be much more capable of dealing with the world around them, be it from a health, educational, justice or other perspective.

The value for money aspect of this process is important. I wanted to talk about the health services, but I do not have the time to do so. In regard to the decision that money will be allocated to hospitals that succeed in putting through patients as opposed to money being allocated to hospitals that do not do their jobs properly, we have started on the right road. While there will be teething problems, payment on the basis of results in the health sector is not a bad idea. As to whether the same principle should apply to educational qualifications, that might be a debate for another day.