Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader, Senator Cassidy, to invite the Minister for children, Deputy Barry Andrews, to the House to bring us up to date on the strategy for child care in Ireland. There is no doubt we have made great progress in that regard. Our former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, appointed an Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. There is a commitment in Towards 2016 to make available 50,000 new child care places but last weekend in The Irish Times there was a report by Vladimir Spidla, the European Union Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, on availability, costs and Government spending on child care and child care education in the 27 EU countries. The stark findings about Ireland in the report are very serious. It states that Irish parents pay more for child care than most Europeans. The Irish Government spends less on child care and early education than other EU countries.