Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I agree with much of what he said about this issue, which I am very passionate about. Every new parent should be given the same basic start and opportunity for the new life they are bringing into the world. I am not necessarily the best parent. I had many privileges when I had the opportunity to help, support and pretend to pay attention to all the great work my wife did 16 months ago. Many people in this country are not in the same position and this scheme provides the Government with an opportunity to assist them. I note the report and the pilot scheme but I appeal to the Minister, Deputy Zappone, to speak with her counterparts in Finland, other Scandinavian countries and, in particular, Scotland, which is comparable to Ireland. The scheme in Scotland has been highly successful. We should definitely consider having the box as a crib. Concerns raised in Scotland have been addressed so let us use Scotland's wisdom and experience to make our scheme the best possible. The great thing about these boxes is that not only do the items contained within give people a great start but they can provide great guidance on swaddling or reusable nappies, which I will not pretend I use. We need to start implementing this and encouraging people that this can be done so that everyone has the same first start.