Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also support the call for a debate on child care and welcome the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald's statements on regulation. My concern is that 70% of child care is in the informal sector which is entirely unregulated. I would like any debate on child care to cover the informal child care sector. There has been much focus on crèches and the formalised sector. I am concerned that we are creating a two-tier child care system.

I ask the Leader about progress made on having a pre-budget debate in the House, given that the budget is imminent and there is not much time before 15 October. One of the issues I would particularly like to see addressed is the significant increase in the numbers of people presenting as homeless. The number of homeless people in the eastern region has more than doubled in the past year alone and a significant number of those are families. A different type of person is presenting as homeless. The lack of affordable housing is a cause of homelessness in many cases. I ask if the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, would come to the House to explain her plans for the rent supplement budget. I am more than aware that cuts to that budget over the past number of years have proved incredibly damaging to very vulnerable families and have contributed to the increase in the number of those presenting as homeless.