Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 206: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the supports he will provide to parents of young children who want to participate in the workforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23987/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is well aware of the difficulties faced by many parents and families in securing affordable childcare and to this end, it has provided more options to increase the choices available to parents, and has developed a 5 year strategy, to address the supply and the cost of childcare. Childcare has become a central pillar in a diverse range of Government strategies aimed at tackling social and economic issues, including unemployment, gender equality, family support, educational disadvantage and social inclusion.

The National Childcare Strategy was announced in Budget 2006 and is also included as part of the Social Inclusion Priorities set out in the recently published National Development Plan. There is a commitment in 'Towards 2016' to increase the childcare places by 100,000 over the life time of the framework through a combination of the National Childcare Investment Programme, appropriate successor programme(s) and other providers. Also, there has been a very substantial increase in the level of direct financial supports to parents since 1997, highlighting that childcare is an important issue of Government policy.

The Programme for Government recognises the need for care places for school going children and working parents. During the course of this Government for example, we will provide further investment in, and support the roll out of, affordable school-age childcare whereby children will be given access to a range of after-school and holiday time activities. We will work with social partners to promote greater availability of family friendly work practices, ensure each child has access to a preschool place by 2012 and increase paid maternity leave. These initiatives will build on the policies already supported by this Government.