Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I remind Members that there was no child care sector in this country until recent years. We built a child care sector a number of years ago that is providing good child care throughout the country. In the decade up to 2010, €1.1 billion will have been spent by Government, mainly through Exchequer funding and some of it supported through European Union sources. We will have invested directly in the provision of new facilities and in assisting the staffing costs. We will have invested €1.1 billion. It is ludicrous for anybody to think that the Government will walk away from that investment.