Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister who is here at short notice and thank Senator Jillian van Turnhout for requesting the debate.

We have all passed being shocked and saddened by what we have seen. I will not repeat what I said in the Seanad yesterday, but not repeating it does not mean it is not still through my bones. To think any child should have to suffer like that is amazing. "Prime Time" has done the State some service. Since taking office, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, has also done the State some service. She has demonstrated her commitment to child care and three months ago gave a speech in which she said what she has said today and what she intended to do. At the time I said every Minister and the Government should be behind her because the topic needed to be debated and funding. There is also a need for the diversion of funding. The Minister for Education and Skills raised the matter of children's allowance and people on every side were jumping up and down, saying we could not do this or that. We did not have a debate on the issue.

The Minister has spoken about training. Some 4,000 crèches jumped up around Ireland during the Celtic tiger era, but we did not have the same focus on what went on in them. It is all right having state-of-the-art buildings, but it is the people within them who provide nurturing child care. It is all right having polish and paint, but a little dust will not kill or damage a child in the way psychological damage will. Members could spend 50 minutes debating this issue, but we only have five minutes each.