Results 521-540 of 1,065,611 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Joan Collins)

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Defective Building Materials (18 Sep 2024)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for staying for this Topical Issue matter. The next facet of the defective blocks crisis emerging in County Donegal is that within community childcare facilities. Raphoe Community Playgroup has already been forced out of the building it owns due to the fact that it was condemned, and it now has to fundraise to find a permanent home. This is despite...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Johnny Mythen: I thank Claire Kerrane and Kathleen Funchion for developing our childcare policy. Childcare is an essential linchpin in the creation and sustaining of a good, healthy society. The benefits are enormous to any state or country. The added value is immeasurable and is a solid social investment in the future of our citizens. Childcare is the fundamental block to building and sustaining...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: Sinn Féin remains absolutely committed to delivering a public model of childcare, but we cannot wait on the perfect - things have to get better. While I accept there have been changes, parents and children need us to ensure we deal with the issues of affordability, accessibility and availability. Those are vital. Our plan is straightforward, namely, €345 million to deliver...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank Deputy Kerrane for bringing forward the motion. I have listened to many of those who have spoken on it. There has been a bit of nitpicking as well. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle used the word "transformative" in her contribution, but this is about doing things right. If we are speaking in plain English here, this is about giving parents additional time for their child to grow up with...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Violet-Anne Wynne: In my limited time I will only get the opportunity to raise two substantive points, one being the major gap for those children who are not yet two years and nine months but who have additional needs and whom the Minister has locked out of vital supports, ECCE and AIM. I am aware the Minister knows of a particular case in Clare which has been brought to his office. He has not taken action...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I welcome this motion as an opportunity to debate the important issue of early learning and childcare. It is clear from the debate so far that we all recognise the importance of early learning and childcare for children and their families as well as for society and the wider economy. In opposing the Deputies' motion and putting forward a countermotion, the Government’s objective is...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Joan Collins: I am sharing time with my three colleagues. I am supporting the Private Members' motion from Sinn Féin on this childcare payment, as I would support any Private Members' motion calling for more money to be put into people's pockets. Childcare is one of the biggest costs to working families and it is a growing cost that is pricing parents, particularly women, out of employment. It is...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Marian Harkin: I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion. The only addition I would make to it is to emphasise the need to ensure that parents can access childcare. Just today the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation was in Buswells. One of the issues it raised with me was childcare. While costs are less than previously, its members have huge difficulty in accessing childcare. One of the...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Catherine Connolly: I thank Sinn Féin for the motion. Although I have concerns about it, I appreciate that the tenor of it is to reduce the cost for parents and I fully support that. What is missing is a commitment to the provision of public childcare and the operation of childcare. I know the Minister has done his best to reduce the cost and has brought in schemes, but he has ignored what the citizens'...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Thomas Pringle: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this motion regarding childcare. I fully support the motion, particularly as it calls on the Government to make childcare more affordable for parents and to increase pay for early years educators. However, I do not believe the motion goes far enough. Really we should be aiming for public childcare that is completely State funded. Parents are...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Danny Healy-Rae: I will support this motion because it is very important. We need childcare professionals and we need mothers and women in the workforce. They need to work to keep their homes, so we need to help those people, along with childcare professionals. The motion calls for extending parent's leave and benefit schemes to ensure parents have the choice to remain with their baby in the first year of...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Michael Collins: I fully support Sinn Féin's motion. Childcare is essential for society, aiding children's development and enabling parents to work. Ireland faces a childcare crisis, however, with high costs, limited availability and inadequate support for professionals. This crisis demands urgent reform. Affordable, accessible and reliable childcare is crucial for families and the economy. It...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: As a father and grandparent, I know that early years learning and childcare is a necessity, but in my experience and that of families around me, getting childcare is next to impossible. That is why I will support the motion. Currently, two people in a household have to work in order to survive, and then they have to try to get childcare for their children, which is a massive cost. People...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Yes, I got a selfie with your mother-in-law.

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: Yes. I am sorry I could not make it to meet the Minister because I was meeting constituents, but I had not been notified of his visit, and whenever I am notified of a visit from any Minister, I make it my business to attend. Whenever a Minister comes to the area, I show him or her ample respect. I was not notified in advance, however, and I have my own schedule for meeting the people of...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Peadar Tóibín: I will take the first five minutes if that is all right.

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: Whatever you like.

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Peadar Tóibín: I appreciate that. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, mentioned his vision for public delivery for childcare. It is a pity that he has not been in government for the past year to have an opportunity to put that vision in place. It is an incredible situation that we are having speeches at the end of this Government's term that should have been made at the start and the subject matter of which...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Verona Murphy: The motion was brought forward in good faith but I do not think it will solve our problem. I do not doubt the Minister's bone fides in what he is trying to do but, unfortunately, it is ineffective. We have a cross-section of private and public childcare. Some 74% of our childcare is catered for in the private sector and 26% is in the public sector. They are not a million miles apart in...

Childcare: Motion [Private Members] (18 Sep 2024)

Paul Murphy: I will start with a quote from a parent who put it extremely well: Early years childcare in Ireland seems broken. The staff themselves are poorly paid and move frequently. Parents have to pay exorbitant fees, which become even more challenging to fund if there is more than one child. The Government needs to look at a more wholescale change to the system. There are environmental and...