CHILDREN, CHILDCARE & PARENTAL LEAVE
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
HIQA Report on Foster Care (13/07/10)
Missing Children (20/05/10)
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (07/11/07)
Childcare Investment (01/02/06)
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HIQA Report on Foster Care
13/07/10 -I have rarely criticised the HSE in this House. …... The importance of this week’s report is that there was a report last autumn, measures were supposed to have been put in place and the HSE gave commitments to us, to HIQA, to the Department of Health and Children and to the world at large that all the issues raised were being dealt with. Six months later, HIQA goes back to reassess, see where they are, and comes up with an astonishing report. The report …. caused such obvious dismay in the Department that the Minister wrote to express her views to the chair of the HSE. The reality is that we have abandoned children. They are lost in society somewhere, out of touch and out of contact, with no files on them, no contact with social workers and no consideration or assessment of the condition in which they are being kept, fostered and maintained. This, surely, is proof positive that the HSE is not fit for purpose in this regard, whatever about in other matters, and we should state that clearly. The HSE should be relieved of this responsibility. These children do not get another shot at the last year in foster care. They must put up with the pain. For a State agency such as HIQA, which is balanced in its statements and consistently produces balanced, evidentially based reports, to come out with a statement to the effect that there is a potential dereliction of duty on the part of the HSE is a clarion call to politicians and public representatives. We cannot ignore this and we must take action. I wish to hear what action the Department of Health and Children and the Minister can and will take on this issue on foot of the report to ensure children are not in an unsafe fostering environment, that their cases are properly maintained, filed, managed, recorded and safeguarded.
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Missing Children
20/05/10 - The Government took a decision last year on which there was very little discussion, that is, the setting up of a hotline for missing children. Throughout European countries the 116000 number is used. It is a number people can ring immediately if there is any danger of a child being kidnapped, absconding, going missing, running away or whatever internationally. At such times, families are subject to a great deal of trauma. I spoke to several people about this issue and they simply do not know where to go. Eventually, such people ring the Garda and it has a certain process that it puts in place.
As we are well aware, this is an international issue. The Irish Government has opted out of the 116000 number on the basis of saving money. I do not know how much money is being saved by not manning, dealing with, processing or administering a single phone number which could be of extraordinary help to people. Hundreds of people go missing in the course of a year, some for a short term and some for a long term, but this is an issue for people. ….. Not all such children finish up as bodies in a ditch. They finish up in other places and they find themselves trafficked into other countries, among other possibilities. We are aware of the issues and I put it to the Leader that the Government should inform us why we cannot buy into the 116000 hotline as other European countries have done. What putative savings are being made by not participating in this system?
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Community Childcare Subvention Scheme
07/11/07 - It is not a question of what is in the Minister of State’s proposal, but of what is missing from it (the Scheme). That is where the problem lies. There is an economic strategy to attract people into the workplace. While I do not want to sound sexist about this, in general, this strategy currently refers to attracting women into the workplace for their economic contribution to the GDP and GNP of this State. That is what needs to happen but whether we like it or not, the issue of child care is very much a women’s issue. The cost of it is shared but in the main, although not exclusively, the responsibility for it falls on women’s shoulders. If men were more reliant on child care much more would have been done in the meantime.
What can be done and what is not in the Minister of State’s proposal? The Minister of State is technically right in stating it is not means tested but based on other figures including the family income supplement. The real issue, however, is that people just above the threshold will feel they are going to be hit once more.
There is a simple way to deal with those who do not reach the threshold to which the Minister of State referred. If the State recognised the cost they are paying for child care, the obvious thing is to grant them tax relief on that expenditure. That would create a level playing pitch and would mean that persons going out to work would not be discommoded as much, although they would still face unacceptable costs.
We are currently losing a major creative input for the economy because large numbers of women in particular do not have this opportunity. The Department of Finance will say there is always somebody above the threshold, but we are penalising people for going out to work. ….. In my last employment, I lost three superb workers due to the cost of child care. They were not in low-paid employment but they could not afford the costs involved. The Department of Finance does not recognise that there is a loss to the State in this. It looks at the penny-pinching aspects of giving money here or there, but we are all losing as a result.
To move forward from the Minister of State’s points, while recognising what he has done, people above that threshold should be at least permitted a tax break. I will give the Minister of State an argument to use with the Department of Finance in the Estimates debate. Given that we are losing the creative and financial input of such people who cannot afford to go to work because of child care costs, what does it cost the State? We are all losers as a result.
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Childcare Investment
01/02/06 - I have spoken in the House about child care on three or four occasions over the past year. On the first two or three occasions, I called for five things to be delivered on. First, I asked for overall responsibility for the entire child care sector to be given to a single Cabinet Minister, but I am happy that a Minister of State has been given these duties. It is a welcome move.
The second thing I spoke strongly about in this House was the need for extended maternity leave. I thirdly asked for funding for parents, whether they are at home or in the workplace, to be increased. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that all those things have been done. I welcome the progress that has been made.
I feel equally strongly about two further issues. It is a mistake not to provide for paid paternity leave and extended parental leave. The fourth thing I asked for was that parents should benefit from some form of support when they are on parental leave. I ask the Minister of State to look closely at the fifth thing I asked for. We need to have trust and confidence in the safety of the system. When parents leave their children in supervision, they should have confidence in the facility in question, regardless of whether it is located in a school, a playschool or a pre-school or whether it is provided by a community group or a group of parents. We owe it to parents to give them such confidence.
As a priority I ask the Minister of State to find a way of co-ordinating qualifications. A person may be a teacher, a classroom assistant, a community worker or a person may have a child care qualification. However, there should be a clear vetting arrangement so that people would know the level of qualification. They do not all have to be the same. The whole question of choice is crucial in this area. People should be able to make the choice whether they want to send their child to a pre-school, a school, play-school, community group or whatever. All those choices should be available and they should not be in competition with each other. I ask the Minister of State to ensure the vetting of qualifications.
I disagree with the idea that these places can ever be self-sustaining and pay for themselves. That will not happen. It will take more money.
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Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
HIQA Report on Foster Care (13/07/10)
Missing Children (20/05/10)
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (07/11/07)
Childcare Investment (01/02/06)
Back to top of the page
HIQA Report on Foster Care
13/07/10 -I have rarely criticised the HSE in this House. …... The importance of this week’s report is that there was a report last autumn, measures were supposed to have been put in place and the HSE gave commitments to us, to HIQA, to the Department of Health and Children and to the world at large that all the issues raised were being dealt with. Six months later, HIQA goes back to reassess, see where they are, and comes up with an astonishing report. The report …. caused such obvious dismay in the Department that the Minister wrote to express her views to the chair of the HSE. The reality is that we have abandoned children. They are lost in society somewhere, out of touch and out of contact, with no files on them, no contact with social workers and no consideration or assessment of the condition in which they are being kept, fostered and maintained. This, surely, is proof positive that the HSE is not fit for purpose in this regard, whatever about in other matters, and we should state that clearly. The HSE should be relieved of this responsibility. These children do not get another shot at the last year in foster care. They must put up with the pain. For a State agency such as HIQA, which is balanced in its statements and consistently produces balanced, evidentially based reports, to come out with a statement to the effect that there is a potential dereliction of duty on the part of the HSE is a clarion call to politicians and public representatives. We cannot ignore this and we must take action. I wish to hear what action the Department of Health and Children and the Minister can and will take on this issue on foot of the report to ensure children are not in an unsafe fostering environment, that their cases are properly maintained, filed, managed, recorded and safeguarded.
Back to top of the page
Missing Children
20/05/10 - The Government took a decision last year on which there was very little discussion, that is, the setting up of a hotline for missing children. Throughout European countries the 116000 number is used. It is a number people can ring immediately if there is any danger of a child being kidnapped, absconding, going missing, running away or whatever internationally. At such times, families are subject to a great deal of trauma. I spoke to several people about this issue and they simply do not know where to go. Eventually, such people ring the Garda and it has a certain process that it puts in place.
As we are well aware, this is an international issue. The Irish Government has opted out of the 116000 number on the basis of saving money. I do not know how much money is being saved by not manning, dealing with, processing or administering a single phone number which could be of extraordinary help to people. Hundreds of people go missing in the course of a year, some for a short term and some for a long term, but this is an issue for people. ….. Not all such children finish up as bodies in a ditch. They finish up in other places and they find themselves trafficked into other countries, among other possibilities. We are aware of the issues and I put it to the Leader that the Government should inform us why we cannot buy into the 116000 hotline as other European countries have done. What putative savings are being made by not participating in this system?
Back to top of the page
Community Childcare Subvention Scheme
07/11/07 - It is not a question of what is in the Minister of State’s proposal, but of what is missing from it (the Scheme). That is where the problem lies. There is an economic strategy to attract people into the workplace. While I do not want to sound sexist about this, in general, this strategy currently refers to attracting women into the workplace for their economic contribution to the GDP and GNP of this State. That is what needs to happen but whether we like it or not, the issue of child care is very much a women’s issue. The cost of it is shared but in the main, although not exclusively, the responsibility for it falls on women’s shoulders. If men were more reliant on child care much more would have been done in the meantime.
What can be done and what is not in the Minister of State’s proposal? The Minister of State is technically right in stating it is not means tested but based on other figures including the family income supplement. The real issue, however, is that people just above the threshold will feel they are going to be hit once more.
There is a simple way to deal with those who do not reach the threshold to which the Minister of State referred. If the State recognised the cost they are paying for child care, the obvious thing is to grant them tax relief on that expenditure. That would create a level playing pitch and would mean that persons going out to work would not be discommoded as much, although they would still face unacceptable costs.
We are currently losing a major creative input for the economy because large numbers of women in particular do not have this opportunity. The Department of Finance will say there is always somebody above the threshold, but we are penalising people for going out to work. ….. In my last employment, I lost three superb workers due to the cost of child care. They were not in low-paid employment but they could not afford the costs involved. The Department of Finance does not recognise that there is a loss to the State in this. It looks at the penny-pinching aspects of giving money here or there, but we are all losing as a result.
To move forward from the Minister of State’s points, while recognising what he has done, people above that threshold should be at least permitted a tax break. I will give the Minister of State an argument to use with the Department of Finance in the Estimates debate. Given that we are losing the creative and financial input of such people who cannot afford to go to work because of child care costs, what does it cost the State? We are all losers as a result.
Back to top of the page
Childcare Investment
01/02/06 - I have spoken in the House about child care on three or four occasions over the past year. On the first two or three occasions, I called for five things to be delivered on. First, I asked for overall responsibility for the entire child care sector to be given to a single Cabinet Minister, but I am happy that a Minister of State has been given these duties. It is a welcome move.
The second thing I spoke strongly about in this House was the need for extended maternity leave. I thirdly asked for funding for parents, whether they are at home or in the workplace, to be increased. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that all those things have been done. I welcome the progress that has been made.
I feel equally strongly about two further issues. It is a mistake not to provide for paid paternity leave and extended parental leave. The fourth thing I asked for was that parents should benefit from some form of support when they are on parental leave. I ask the Minister of State to look closely at the fifth thing I asked for. We need to have trust and confidence in the safety of the system. When parents leave their children in supervision, they should have confidence in the facility in question, regardless of whether it is located in a school, a playschool or a pre-school or whether it is provided by a community group or a group of parents. We owe it to parents to give them such confidence.
As a priority I ask the Minister of State to find a way of co-ordinating qualifications. A person may be a teacher, a classroom assistant, a community worker or a person may have a child care qualification. However, there should be a clear vetting arrangement so that people would know the level of qualification. They do not all have to be the same. The whole question of choice is crucial in this area. People should be able to make the choice whether they want to send their child to a pre-school, a school, play-school, community group or whatever. All those choices should be available and they should not be in competition with each other. I ask the Minister of State to ensure the vetting of qualifications.
I disagree with the idea that these places can ever be self-sustaining and pay for themselves. That will not happen. It will take more money.
Back to top of the page
Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website