Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

When the Minister of State, Deputy Smith, spoke about this issue last week, he claimed there has been full consultation with the child care sector. I discussed this issue directly with the Minister of State during a debate. My information is that just 11 voluntary community child care groups, from a total of more than 1,100 such groups, were consulted. That does not constitute full consultation with this sector. The Minister of State suggested that these forms are simple and the information demanded is simple. Having spoken to and listened to those who have filled out the forms, or asked parents to fill out the forms, I can inform the House that the voluntary committees were required to put the forms in envelopes, accompanied with a cover letter stating that they would not open the envelopes to look at the information being provided to the Department. It is unfair on members of voluntary committees to be given access to information on the social welfare payments of their neighbours, friends and, in some cases, family members.

The Minister of State suggested that there is ill-information and misinformation among the public. If he attended some of the meetings which are happening throughout the State, he would hear that people's concerns are based on real facts, rather than distorted information. If he had been at a meeting in County Donegal that was attended by more than 100 people, he would know that some child care facilities are having to increase their fees by 95%. He would have heard that a playschool in the county is closing down because of this scheme. He would have heard that a woman who is currently in employment in County Donegal intends to go on social welfare from 1 January next because that is the only way she can afford to get child care for her child. She is falling into a poverty trap. The Minister of State would have heard that the Government's investment of €1.3 million in child care facilities in Ballyshannon will be a white elephant unless this scheme is suspended and then altered. He would have heard about the countless parents who are so concerned about the Government's introduction of this scheme that they are considering taking various forms of action, such as strikes and marches.

I had thought the days of devising policies on the back of an envelope were gone, but that seems to be how this scheme was drawn up. I do not think it is fair to blame the Civil Service. The Minister of State spoke about introducing a scheme that he has already introduced. He said he would collate the data to find out what impact it will have. Why did that not happen prior to the introduction of the scheme? The Minister of State's attempts to defend his position on this scheme show he is completely out of touch with what is happening on the ground. It is not good enough to talk about adjusting the scheme — it needs to be suspended fully. We should listen to those who are providing community child care throughout the State, including the voluntary committees. We need to come up with a better scheme. I do not doubt that all Opposition parties would support some changes. The Minister of State needs to listen to the many Deputies, Senators and Ministers from the Government parties who do not support this scheme. It is unfortunate for the Government, which has done a number of U-turns in the past after trying unsuccessfully to implement various ill-thought-out policies, that the Minister of State will have to do another U-turn in this instance. He will have to suspend the scheme, embark on full consultation and try to come up with a valuable scheme that will secure the future of the voluntary child care sector.