Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Ireland has led the way in much innovative legislation in recent years. I was impressed yesterday at the launch of a children's plan in Britain. I ask the Leader to bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health and Children. It is a 170 page document. A couple of phrases, in particular, attracted me to it. It states that parents, not Governments, bring up children. It also refers to the best place in the world in which to bring up our children and in this regard it identifies families and the benefits of family life. Given our recent problems with drugs, I was reminded that in the US there has been a big move towards family dinners at home. It has been discovered that in those families that eat together, at least once a week at home, the teenagers in later years are less likely to have addictions to drugs, alcohol, tobacco and so on and have much better results in their examinations. While we do not necessarily need legislation for this, we should produce a document similar to that published in Britain. Perhaps the Minister for Health and Children would provide the opportunity for the House to debate this topic in order to move it along in that direction.