Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The salient point I make is true.

In raising this issue on the Order of Business, the leader of the Fine Gael group read out a letter she received from someone known to me who I would call a friend and whose circumstances I am very familiar with. She is a young mother with a young child who has chosen to work in the arts sector on a minimum wage because she gets job satisfaction from the job she does. Her circumstances would see her child care costs increase by €50 per week which her current salary would not meet.

The difficulty I have with the current tiering is a criticism I would make about how social welfare payments and services are generally assessed in that there is no consistency in this area. For instance, if someone qualifies, as does this young woman and her family, for a doctor only medical card that, in itself, is a cut off which means there should be better tiering in regard to this payment. I hope the debate will help to inform that. I have every sympathy for the civil servants who came up with this package. They were told the budget is so much and to produce tierings which would spend that amount.

We can still address this by devising a more socially just and equitable method which will see child care services of the highest quality produced in local communities. Child care services are best provided in a community based way rather than by way of private child care. Following this debate, the final tweaking of these proposals and following ongoing consultation with the child care sector, figures will be produced which will allow that to happen.