Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to finish. Their service should always be recognised. They deserve equality. Let us do something besides just agreeing with each other on this issue and let us move this on, as Senator Wilson said.

With respect to the Leader, the Seanad schedule should reflect matters of urgency in this country and one-parent families are going to get the hatchet on 2 July. Up to now, they have been getting allowances for children up to 14 years of age. It is now being reduced to seven years of age. How can a single parent go out to work or keep up their education and leave seven year olds untended? I voted on that side of the House because the Minister, Deputy Burton, promised us a Scandinavian child care model. I was in Finland looking at that model three weeks ago. It will never happen in this country. We are miles away from it. Let us stop hanging our women and our children out to dry. Some 500,000 children in this country are in single-parent families. Is there any more important job in this country than rearing children, the future adults and citizens of this country? Let us call a spade a spade. I expect to see a debate in this House with the Minister, Deputy Burton, next week on the single parent cuts coming down the line and I want to see them reversed.