Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator raised other issues which were not mentioned in the matter submitted but I have taken note of them, in particular the question about the system. I will raise the matter of the review of child care to the Minister's office straight away when I leave here. There is, as the Senator said, a substantial amount of funding being put in place over the next number of years for child care. We all know how important child care is for many young people, in particular where both partners need to work, and how important it is to have proper child care facilities in place. The contributions made by other agencies and, in particular, the Minister, Deputy Zappone's Department are an assurance that the Government is very serious about making child care a huge priority into the future and that is why so much money has been identified over the next couple of years. I will come back to the Senator on those questions.