Budget 2016: Order of Business, Seanad Éireann.

Budget 2016: Order of Business, Seanad Éireann.

Tuesday's budget included some welcome announcements setting out the Government's prioritisation of education and child care. Yesterday in the Order of Business I called for a specific debate on child care. I did so in light of the welcome announcements to increase child benefit and introduce an additional year of the early childhood care and education scheme, which so many of us had sought, and the welcome measure on statutory paternity leave, which marks the first recognition that fathers have a role in the workplace. These are important and progressive steps for child care.
Last week, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, launched a Labour Party report on child care which recommended not only that we take initiatives such as those taken yesterday but also additional measures to make child care more affordable for parents and professionalise the child care workforce. These are the two additional focuses which must be taken up in any debate on child care. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the issue in recognition of the major advances made in yesterday's budget for families, children and, in particular, working parents, and in view of the need to do more.

Pictured with the Trinity College Dublin Retirement Association who I welcomed to Leinster House on ‪#‎BudgetDay‬.