Deputy Mary Lou McDonald - speech from 11 Jun 2020

And can I begin by remembering every soul lost to this virus, sending sympathies to their families, friends and communities, to extend our solidarity to those who are sick at this time and to wish them a full recovery and again to acknowledge the heroic efforts of workers on the front line, particularly within our health services. Today, as we are towards the tail end of Carers Week, I want to particularly acknowledge the work of carers and home carers, people whose efforts very quietly carried out has meant that people and families have had some comfort and support in incredibly difficult circumstances. These are people to whom we all owe a huge debt of gratitude and I sincerely hope that as the crisis abates and as we move back into normality of some sort, that their efforts are continuously acknowledged because very often they believe that they're left behind and they're forgotten. The Taoiseach, I've raised with you on a number of occasions, the need for a plan for the provision of childcare and by a plan I mean one that's workable, that's realistic and that's sustainable. A plan that meets the real world needs of children and of parents, a plan formulated through proper consultation with childcare professionals and experts. As we meet today, there is still considerable alarm and stress for parents. There is undoubtedly confusion and anger within the childcare sector and I have to tell you Taoiseach that these will not have been changed or abated by your government's very disappointing announcement yesterday. The measures announced yesterday don't constitute a plan, they don't comprise a solution. I think at best they might be described as a stock gap, a makeshift collection of short term measures that inevitably lead parents and childcare providers back to the very same problems that we face today. Those being a lack of investment, capacity problems, fees so high that they equate to a second mortgage and of course the precarious work and low pay of childcare workers. So, despite all of yesterday's fanfare, the truth is that under your childcare package many, many childcare providers will be forced to either close their doors come September or we will see a situation where parents face another hike in childcare fees. Now, families already struggle with the cost of childcare and I think we can all agree that another increase would be simply unbearable. Under your plan, many childcare workers may be forced onto the dole. That's the reality Taoiseach and it's not fair. In fact, I find it mind-boggling that your government cannot seem to grasp that childcare is absolutely vital to our society and to the building of a modern economy. You see, you can't send thousands of people back to work without an answer to their childcare needs. An hour ago, some of us stood with a large group of women outside the dole. These women came seeking the extension of maternity leave for three months. It's a common sense proposal. The mothers are concerned about the availability of childcare for their young babies. Indeed, many of them haven't yet had the opportunity to introduce their new arrivals to their wider family circle and indeed to their grandparents. So maternity leave benefits must be extended for mothers whose claim expires in the course of this pandemic. That needs to be part of a plan and you need to go back to the drawing board Taoiseach. You need to bring forward a workable real plan that goes beyond September and one that will command the confidence of parents and childcare professionals alike. Another area causing deep distress, as you have acknowledged Taoiseach, for many parents is the matter of educational provision for children with special needs. It's now two weeks till July and still we have an ongoing lack of clarity regarding summer provision. That's quite astonishing. I'm sure like me, many of you saw the report on RTE last week and it featured parents, frankly, at their wits end, trying to provide round the clock care to their children. They very sadly and heartbreakingly describe their children as forgotten and left behind and we know that too many families across the state are in this distressing situation. The development and the progress of these children has been badly affected since school closures. They have been badly affected by a working night and they have been badly affected by the children's kids and their children. They have had to be the most affected by the children's children in the course of the school. They have to be very close to their families and to have quite a bit of an impact on their children's children. They have to be the most affected by the children's children and their kids. One particular parent in this report, Angelina Hines, describes the impact on her daughter Zoe. She says Zoe bites her arm in frustration, she eats her clothes, her daughter no longer engages and she's not the child she was nine weeks ago. She used to be able to spoon feed herself thanks to the very hard work and dedication of her teachers. Now that's stopped entirely. So these children we all agree need support, they need their specialised routines and they need expert care. And so parents and the children need government to act. There are concerns already even before Minister McHugh has announced his scheme, concerns as to whether or not this scheme will answer problems in respect of protocols, organised transport, and a deep worry surrounding the issue of insurance. I am at this stage genuinely concerned that your government fails to grasp the enormous strain that parents and families are under. It seems to me that you're content to roll along providing sticking plaster half-baked fixes while parents and families are left in limbo. So here's my questions to you. Will you Taoiseach go back and bring forward a real plan and by that one I mean that in real terms allows child care providers to reopen their doors, a plan that ensures the jobs of child care workers and their incomes and one that ensures parents can access child care at affordable rates. Secondly Taoiseach, will you provide within that plan for the three-month extension to maternity leave? And thirdly, can you tell us that the scheme to be announced tomorrow for summer provision will answer the concerns around protocols, transport and the issue of insurance? I appreciate what you're saying that there are concerns about how the summer programme is going to work and as you said there these concerns exist before the announcement has been made so I would anticipate and hope that should Minister McHugh and Minister Harris get approval for the summer programme tomorrow that they will be able to answer questions and allay any concerns that people have tomorrow but in fairness to them they can't do that until they actually have government or cabinet approval for the summer programme. In relation to child care you know we have a good plan in place it's been largely well received not universally well received but largely well received and that will facilitate the reopening of child care centres for the months of July and August. There's a reopening grant, there's capital grants to carry out works to child care centres and there's also wage subsidy. Now the government paying roughly 70% of the wages in the sector during that period. I agree that a longer term plan will be needed to apply from September onwards but it's our view that at least as of now that that should be a matter for the new government and I know there are discussions about child care among the parties willing to form a government. Your party has given up on any attempt to form a government you won't have a say in that or a role in that but obviously the parties forming a government will and will of course consult with the sector as they should. In relation to issues around maternity leave and maternity benefit we're happy to consider any proposals being made. In your initial contribution you said maternity benefit later on you said maternity leave they're not the same thing and obviously paternity benefit paternity leave and parental leave and parental benefit would have to come to the mix as well because sometimes not commonly but sometimes the man is the main carer in a one-parent family as well but if you have proposals that are comprehensive we'd be very happy to examine them. A petition has been signed by what some 25,000 people men and women looking for an extension to the maternity benefit and leave associated with that benefit and I would urge you to consider this and and to deliver on this very quickly it's just plain common sense if you think about it for a second bringing home a newborn in these circumstances isolated from family all of the concerns that emerge in that scenario and then the concern as to whether or not very young children babies will in fact be able to access child care places so I want to press you on that and ask you to bring that forward. Your child care plan isn't a proper plan I've made that point to you I'm disappointed that on reflection you can't see that as a very obvious fact and thirdly on on the issue of special provision just bear in mind there was to be a scheme involving SNAs and supports for these children and families weeks ago and that came to nothing. I am appealing to you I am appealing to you Thiesha not to disappoint these families and children again they are in dire straits they need a scheme that they can really access and one that delivers the real supports that these families desperately desperately need so I hope tomorrow the scheme as announced will answer the concerns that I have raised and many many others