The Government has created the perfect storm. Ireland has applied itself to making sure there are more jobs. That is a great thing. We should always encourage equality and ensure that people, whether men or women, can get jobs. A lot of people in Ireland are now working and that is a great thing. When my kids were growing up, they were able to go over the road to a local person who we would call the childminder. This person might have reared seven or eight children of their own. These people treated our children as if they were their mothers and their husbands would treat them as if they were their fathers. The kids could be dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening. They were fed, kept and safe. Of course, that was banned under new regulations brought in under the then Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, a few years ago and most of them have left the market. That is a fact. The statistics will tell you that they are not coming back. That is one part of it. The second part is the incredible work done by crèches around the country. There is a big problem with babies. A certain ratio is required. That might be needed. I do not know. A lot of crèches do not want to take the really young babies. This ratio and the money you get out of taking in the really young babies are problems. If we do not address these problems, they will get worse and worse. We must also ensure that the workers in crèches get a proper wage. We have a community crèche in Glinsk called Caisleán Óir. The Minister of State might search it on Google some time. We are abroad in the middle of the countryside. We have a pub, a shop, a church and a community centre and we built a crèche years ago. There were 48 kids in the local school. Because of the foresight of people in the service, there are now something like 85 or 90 children in the crèche. Enrolment in the school has gone up to 88 or 90. People are coming from the whole area. Does the Minister of State know what our biggest problem is now? Ironically enough, you can be a victim of your own success. With the planning that went into the crèche, the great staff, the management and the community behind it, we decided to provide after-school care. We got a minibus to pick up the kids. They get a lunch and they do their homework, and they are nearly ready to go to bed when they go home or to look at television. More and more people have come from different areas to use this service. It is out in the middle of the countryside. What has happened now is that we have a community centre and, because we have to make sure that we facilitate children, one third of this community centre is used to sort out the after-school service because more and more kids are using it. It is a great story to read and look at. Now, the service has to expand more. We are out in the sticks but people are coming from a huge area because parents vote with their feet. They look to where there is a service. This service caters for babies right up to children going to school. People come from a radius of five to ten miles around. It is a massive service. It is a community crèche and it is not for profit. We need to make sure we make these services affordable. It was not in the time of the Minister of State, but I begged the former Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, with regard to the great people out there who mind a couple of kids in their house and who have to go through such a rigmarole. I feel sorry about this. It is like anything; it is like being in business. Do not ever worry about the person in business beside you because we need everyone to be doing a bit to cater for everything that is going on. I will not do all of the work in the world and nor will someone else. When the Ceann Comhairle was working at the lorries she did not do everything. There is always enough for everyone. I ask that child care be made as affordable as possible. With regard to the grants, I know there is pressure in cities and large towns. I understand that but look up the story of Caisleán Óir in Glinsk. Think of this small crèche in a rural area where people would say nothing is going on. Look at the number of children attending, how it is booked out miles ahead and how there is a wait for places. It wants to get bigger. When funding comes it should also cater for the likes of these services in the countryside.

Sentiment score: 0.14