Pauline Tully
Cultural and Educational Panel · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I acknowledge that there have been huge improvements on what is available for women, compared with a few years ago when there was nothing, but still far too often conditions affecting women are seen as a specialty or mystery when there is a range of supports and advice that women could receive through primary and community care services.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire chuig an Seanad. I welcome the Bill. We will be fully supporting it. It makes sense. It will reduce barriers for women and make access to contraception easier, which is always going to be welcome. It will also ease pressure on primary care.”
“We need to look at a better public transport system, especially looking after our older people in isolated communities. Even to support our rural pub, we need to look at some sort of incentive for a taxi service that is affordable for people, so we can maintain our rural pubs and look after our older people.”
“Community and voluntary services on the ground, which are vital for providing supports and services to many sectors of the community, including older people and younger people, are not seeing sufficient funding to help them to keep running, to recruit and retain staff within the youth sector, for example, to maintain buildings if they hav…”
“The motion that we have put forward is very broad and covers many aspects that affect us in rural life. I too am astounded by the amendment tabled by the Government because it does not call for anything, which gives the impression that everything that is needed is there, yet many colleagues across the room here ask for more gardaí in thei…”
“Sláintecare is being rolled out too slowly, so we need to see proper resourcing of community healthcare. It avoids people ending up in acute healthcare settings, which are overcrowded. I see a dangerous trend where many people are being referred from areas such as Cavan and Monaghan to Dublin for acute care.”
The complete record
Every one of 900 lines we hold for Pauline Tully, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 16 of 18.
“I am afraid people who have used Your Service, Your Say do not get results at all. She has also been on medication for more than a decade and it has not been reviewed in that time. People's needs change. The medication she was prescribed ten years ago was what she needed at that time but her need may have changed since then. Also, we need to make sure medication prescribed for something else - looking at the overall picture to make sure all medications are not doing damage together - can be given at the same time. I echo the calls around dual diagnosis in addiction services in particular, but also in children's services for children who are autistic and perhaps suffer from anxiety. They are being thrown from CAMHS to the CDNT and back again and they are not getting the supports they need.”
“It is probably more community mental health teams that need to be built so that people know they have support and can get it when they need it in a fast manner. I also spoke to a lady who has been engaged with mental health services in Cavan for a long time. She has seen her consultant once. Every time she goes to an appointment, she sees a different person. This is happening in both child and adult mental health services. There is no consistency. People see a person who does not know them or their needs and they have to go over everything again. When this woman made a complaint about this she was not listened to. She then requested a visit from her nurse and that was refused because she had made the complaint. She was told that if she had a problem with it she should go to Your Service, Your Say.”
“We have had instances of people leaving emergency departments and taking their own lives because they did not get help. We should look at having specialised units within the emergency departments that are just for mental health services so people can be admitted in that way. I have spoken to a number of people who were admitted to a psychiatric ward through emergency departments or otherwise and got support who said they are almost afraid to admit they are feeling well again because they will be discharged from the unit and it is extremely hard to reach out again and get back in if they feel unwell again. The nature of mental health is that people can feel great one day and not the next day. Many people are afraid to admit they are feeling a little bit better, in case they need support again and will not be able to access it on time.”
“It is devastating to lose someone in a sudden way, but it is worse when it is by suicide because people constantly ask themselves whether they should have said or done something or noticed something. That can sometimes lead to a further suicide. Supports for families bereaved by suicide are extremely important and need to be increased. According to the Mental Health Commission, an estimated 51,000 people access their first mental health support through emergency departments or medical wards. Other Members have mentioned that emergency departments are not suitable places. They are very busy. People have gone in seeking mental health support, but because they physically do not look like their need is urgent in comparison with some other people who are waiting on services, they are often left for hours.”
“The Minister of State is welcome. She will be aware that I come from Cavan, which has had one of the highest rates of suicide in the past few years. It has twice the national average. It is distressing that so many, especially young men, are taking their own lives, but it extends to men and women of all ages, unfortunately. I commend the staff in mental health units in the community and hospitals as well as those who work in SOSAD, Pieta and many of our family resource centres, FRCs, which also provide counselling to people. They have gone to some lengths to get accreditation to do so. We need to build capacity in our teams in the community and hospitals and support those organisations such as SOSAD, Pieta and FRCs. I think of families who have lost a loved one due to suicide.”
“I ask the Acting Leader to raise this issue with the Minister, Deputy James Browne, to see whether something can be done such as putting resources into the board to address this issue in order that people do not have to wait an endless amount of time without an answer during an appeal.”
“Local authorities must give a decision on a planning application within a set length of time and applicants must adhere to that but the board does not, so the process can go on for ages. Yesterday, a person contacted me and told me they had received planning permission in March 2024. An appeal was lodged with the board by a third party a few weeks later but the appeal still has not been dealt with and a year has elapsed. The board did write to the applicant notifying that an inspector would conduct an inspection in August but no one arrived. The board again sent a written notification that an inspector would visit before Christmas but nobody arrived. The applicant still awaits a decision and cannot get anywhere, which is totally unfair.”
“Senator O'Loughlin has mentioned the murder of Clodagh Hawe and her three sons. Being from Cavan, I remember hearing about it on the day and it sent shock waves through the whole country. I commend Clodagh's sister, Jacqueline Connolly, on speaking out on a previous occasion and for writing a book about this. At the time, some of the media reports and others described the perpetrator as a pillar of society and how this was a tragic event. To me, a tragedy suggests something accidental or that could not be helped. This person was not a pillar of society. He was a murderer and he should be called out for what he was, namely, an absolutely shameful individual. I wish to raise the issue of the continued delays in dealing with appeals by An Bord Pleanála.”
“We do not want to lose any more carers in the home care sector; they are scarce enough as it is. I have asked the HSE to provide clarification whether this is the case and, if so, what kind of supports can be put in place to actually support carers to make the claims without undue hassle and worry. I would appreciate getting an answer on this.”
“I want to raise an issue that affects home care workers employed directly by the HSE. Up to recently, the practice was to submit claims for travel expenses on a paper form. However, the HSE has changed this and there is now an online system. One carer submitted a paper form and had it returned to her. She was told to use the online system. The online system requires the use of a tablet or laptop but not all carers have one. This is causing a lot of stress and worry because the carers do not know how they are going to submit their claims. I have written to the HSE highlighting this and I have not got a response as yet. This is a matter I want to highlight in the House to determine whether we can get an answer on it because there are many carers who do not have a laptop or tablet and need to be able to submit travel claims on paper forms.”
“They are being forced to commute long distances, which is exhausting and is leading to many of them dropping out because they are not able to continue the course. Some developers who secured planning permission to build student accommodation made it so expensive that no student could possibly afford it. They apply for and are given permission for a change of use. That is something else that needs to be addressed so that we can ensure that student accommodation is in the areas students need it, it is affordable and it cannot be changed for alternative use, which many are trying to do.”
“She had done her leaving certificate and qualified for a place in college, but because her parents could not afford it - even with the SUSI grant, which they were eligible for - she decided to defer for a year, work for that year and save up her money so she would then be able to take on the course with the grant and get herself through the college. However, she found then she was not eligible for SUSI because of her income when it was combined with that of her parents. We need more information on that for students so they know exactly whether they will or will not qualify. We also need a huge investment in student accommodation. Students are not able to live in the vicinity of the college, so they are not enjoying the whole experience of being a third level student.”
“The fact SUSI grants cannot be accessed for part-time courses means that disabled people, those who suffer from chronic pain and some autistic students who would not cope with a college environment and want to study online are deemed ineligible to apply for a SUSI grant. Will the Minister examine that to ensure the SUSI application process is much more inclusive and encourages as many people as possible to pursue a third level course? Regarding students who work outside of holiday time, many do not realise that their income is used as an assessment against SUSI grants. I felt really sorry for one student.”
“The grant is based on gross income but it should be based on net income. Mortgage payments, the very high rents people are paying in particular and other essential expenditure should be taken into account when looking at eligibility. Mature students - students aged over 23 - may have been living independently but due to the housing crisis are being forced to go back to live with their parents. If they decide to take on a new course or change profession, they are being denied the SUSI grant because their parents' income is being taken into account. That should not be happening. We need to take into account that people are being forced to live at home with their parents because there are no other options available to them.”
“We need to examine the pay rate and at the time it is taking to complete an apprenticeship. I also advocate that any fees for apprenticeships be scrapped because we need to encourage as many people as possible to become apprentices in the different trades. We need to encourage as many people as possible to enter higher and further education. For that to happen, we need equality of access. We still have quite high fees in Ireland compared with other countries in the EU. There was a reduction in fees during the past two years, which was welcome, but I am hearing on the grapevine that that will not be the case going into the next term. That is regrettable. We need to see a phasing out of fees, even by €500 per year over the term of the Government until they are reduced completely. The SUSI grant system needs to be reviewed and reformed.”
“Maybe it is partly because apprenticeships are taking longer than the four years they are supposed to due to backlogs in the system. There has been some investment in this area but there are still hold-ups and apprenticeships are taking longer. This combines with the very low rate of pay. I spoke to a man at the weekend who told me his son, after four years of doing something else, decided to enter an apprenticeship at the age of 22 and started off at €6.50 per hour. That is below the minimum wage for an under-18, never mind the minimum wage in general. His son is now in his second year and earning €8 per hour. That is not sustainable going forward for a young man at the age of 23, or if we want to encourage older people to enter apprenticeship programmes who have spouses and families they have to support as well.”
“I welcome the Minister. I am delighted to have this opportunity to discuss a number of issues mentioned in this comprehensive motion, the first being apprenticeships. We know there is a huge need for apprenticeships, particularly in the construction sector. People tell me they cannot get a plumber for love nor money. Another woman told me her roof was damaged during Storm Éowyn and it was only two weeks ago she was able to get someone to come to repair it. We need to do everything we can to encourage as many people as possible to go into apprenticeships and to broaden apprenticeships to other areas as well. Some of this has already happened and that is welcome. Many people are dropping out of apprenticeships. We need to look at why they are not completing their courses.”
“The woman told me hers took ten days because something had to be checked on it, but for most cases it was straightforward and done practically there and then. Anyone would wait a week or two, but three to five months is not fair. I have written to the NDLS but I ask the Leader to raise this issue with the Minister for Transport as well to see if something can be done. Is it a resourcing issue? We have many people returning to our country. They have to transfer their licences. It should be done in a matter of days or, at the most, weeks.”
“Many of our young people, who are skilled and highly qualified, are leaving our shores to work abroad. For those who do wish to return, we should make the transition back into society as easy as possible. I know a couple who spent two years in Australia, have returned home and are trying to switch their Australian driving licence back to an Irish driving licence. They have been told this will take three to five months. In the meantime, they cannot get insurance and cannot drive. Living in rural Ireland, they therefore cannot work because, unfortunately, very little public transport is available. When they transferred their Irish licences to Australian ones, it was almost instantaneous.”
“If they feel they are not being treated fairly, they have a right to make a complaint and have it investigated to establish if that is the case, but they should not have to wait 12 months.”
“We encourage people to shop around for their utility bills, insurance or whatever it might be, to get the best price. I have been in contact with someone recently who had issues with an energy utility company which I will not name and he claims he was given false information in order to sign a contract. He made a complaint to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. This is where the problem is. The commission has come back to him to say there will be a resolution in 12 months' time. That is not sufficient. The commission is an independent body but it is established under a Government framework. Could we make an inquiry as to why resolutions are taking so long? We want people to shop around but we also want them to get fair treatment.”
“I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House to debate all the issues associated with the Grace report. We must also debate the wider issues that pertain to our vulnerable young people and our young adults in care.”
“This year, HIQA found five foster care services, which are operated by Tusla, to be non-compliant. In addition, hundreds of children do not have a social worker. I commend the foster families who do incredible work throughout society. We need more of them. We also need oversight to ensure foster carers get the necessary supports and provide the proper care to those in their care. I am concerned that there is no adult safeguarding legislation. Many vulnerable adults live in residential settings but, again, there is no oversight. A number of people have raised with me their concerns about young adults with intellectual disabilities or autism who are in settings that are not really appropriate and do not receive the care they should receive.”
“I refer to the publication during the recess of the Grace report. It is shocking that after eight years of an investigation no one has been held to account. Grace was a young girl, who became a young women, with complex and profound intellectual disabilities left in a foster home for 20 years without oversight of her care. Even when, in 1996, there were allegations of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect, and there was talk of moving her, Grace was left in that home for another nine years. It is not credible for the report to state that there was insufficient evidence of physical and sexual abuse. Such findings make me question the care of other vulnerable children and adults in the care system. The Minister has said that the landscape has radically changed but I do not believe that either.”
“Communities feel abandoned and that they are left to clean up the mess. Something should be done to make it a fairer system so that enterprises cannot come in from a different part of the country or from a different part of the world outside of the country and buy up what they deem poor land to offset their emissions while not thinking about the local community or local farmers.”
“The 26,000 ha of forestry that was damaged during the storm needs to be clear-felled and extracted as soon as possible before it becomes worthless. The Minister of State said there is a plan in place or that one is going to be enacted very soon. We need to see that sooner rather than later. There are also issues for farmers with land adjoining forested land. They encountered damage where trees fell on building and fences and so forth. They need to be compensated and included in any action plan. I want to talk about investment companies and some of the larger farming enterprises buying forestry. Especially in Cavan and Leitrim, they are outbidding the local farmers and then they are not there to take responsibility when something goes wrong such as the damage from Storm Éowyn.”
“It also needs to be balanced in terms of species. We must maintain a robust timber industry but we also need forever forests that are full of our natural woodland and allow those to mature. The recent devastation caused by storms Éowyn and Darragh, particularly in west Cavan and Leitrim, was dreadful. It took the ESB crews weeks to get through the forests to repair the power lines. We need to see the Department of agriculture and the ESB working together to plan and ensure there is a corridor maintained either side of lines that is wide enough to ensure that, if a tree falls, it will not bring down the line and cut electricity for weeks, causing a lot of hardship for people. We need to ensure our electricity, communications and water networks are protected from storm damage.”
“We are in danger of being fined if we do not have a robust plan in place. I want to talk about afforestation in west Cavan and Leitrim. A lot of that is hill land and peatland. I agree with my colleague who said we should not be planting on peatland and I disagree with others who said we should. Peatland that has forest on it needs to be returned to peatland because we are losing more carbon than we are saving. As the Minister of State mentioned in his opening speech, there is resentment and mistrust among farmers about afforestation because they have seen the concentration of forests being put on land where there was no benefit to the local farmer or to the local community. We need a plan that works for everyone and for the environment. It needs to be regionally balanced; it should not all be concentrated in one or two counties.”
“The percentage of land that is under afforestation in Ireland compared with the EU average has already been mentioned. Ireland is way below where it should be, at below 12% when the average is 39%. We know how important afforestation is as part of the solution to climate change and in addressing carbon emissions. The previous programme for Government set a target of 8,000 ha per year to be afforested. We fell way below that, with not even a quarter of the target reached. This means we are playing catch-up on those targets because the targets set for 2030 and 2050 were dependent on reaching the targets set in the years from 2021 onwards. We need a robust plan that sets targets we will actually achieve to allow Ireland to catch up and ensure we will not be fined by Europe because we are not reaching our targets.”
“We need to address the barriers to reporting and why so many do not report the crime. The courts system puts people off reporting because courts can take years to come to a conclusion on issues like this. People feel they will be dragged through the courts and so do not report it. I would appreciate it if we could have that debate.”
“The attitude among younger men, that is, men under 24 years of age, is concerning in that they believe more in victim blaming and tend to believe a victim only if they report their case to the Garda. Astonishingly, over 70% of cases are not reported to the Garda, and that is because people feel they will not be believed or there is a stigma attached. Can the Minister for Justice be invited to the Chamber for a debate on issues concerning sexual violence in general and on the findings of this report? We need to increase public awareness of the support services available because many survivors do not access any support. We also need to have education on consent, and not just within schools. Every parent has a responsibility to talk to their young teenagers in particular about consent. Society at large has a responsibility as well.”
“I have just come from the launch of a report by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on public perceptions of sexual violence. It is research that was carried out in recent months. Some of the indications are positive. People believe that sexual violence is extremely common and are very concerned about it. The report pointed out that 85% of men say they feel safe while only 48% of women do. Most still believe that sexual violence is common for women. In reality, one in two women and one in four men will experience sexual violence in their lifetime. A certain level of victim blaming still exists. For example, if a female victim has been drinking or has taken drugs and is raped or assaulted, many still believe she is partly responsible for the rape.”
“When Deputy Naughton was Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, a school inclusion model was piloted in the CHO area 7, which was very successful. The NCSE has extended that into the Limerick area. We need to consider extending that nationwide because I do not know whether we will ever achieve the recruitment required to get the CDNTs to work. If we could get therapy into the schools to provide support to children, teachers and SNAs, that would be very beneficial.”
“From engaging with parents, it seems they are just not working. I have not come across a parent who said that they are getting satisfactory support from their CDNT. Many parents tell me that if their child aged out of the early intervention teams in 2019, they have not received any therapy since then. Children who were too young to be part of those early intervention teams have had no therapy whatsoever. It is affecting their ability to progress and their ability to learn in school. I have had several meeting with school authorities in recent times. They say that, whatever little support they used to get some years ago from the child development teams, which was very welcome, they are getting absolutely no support at all now. We are creating a large cohort of children who will become dependent adults if they do not get support.”
“All many parents who are getting older worry about is what is going to happen to their son or daughter when they leave this world. Generally what happens is that their son or daughter is put into an emergency residential setting with no planning in place. It could be miles from their community or from anyone they know. They are trying to deal with the grief of losing a parent at the same time as settling in to a new home. There needs to be a much better plan for all disabled people, including intellectually disabled people, to ensure that they have a home suitable to their needs in their communities and the necessary supports to live independent lives. The Minister of State mentioned CDNTs in her opening contribution and the effort to increase the numbers employed within teams.”
“We need to look more at the private sector and encourage employers to employ people with disabilities and to make them aware of all the accommodations that exist. Otherwise, we will not live up to the UNCRPD. On housing, we know we have a housing crisis in this country, but there is a housing crisis within that for disabled people, because inevitably they are the people who are on a housing waiting list the longest. This may include a person with a physical disability waiting on an accessible house or a person who is still in a congregated setting or a person with an intellectual disability living with aged parents. Putting people into nursing homes because, for example, they have an acquired brain injury and there is no suitable housing for them, is still the practice, which is disgraceful.”
“It is wider again for women, which is a shock. It needs to be addressed. I was recently speaking to a disabled person who is visually impaired. He is an executive officer employed by the civil service. He was telling me that he has very little work to do because he is not provided with the accommodations he needs to do the work. It is terrible to be left sitting in a job that you are employed to do with practically nothing to do. He cannot seek promotion because his record of work is not being seen. I know there is a target, which is increasing this year, for employment within the public sector but needs to be meaningful and we need to ensure that the accommodations workers require are provided so that they can do the job that they are employed to do and feel included within the system.”
“Statements on disabilities can focus on the negative experiences and the barriers faced by disabled people in their daily reality. I commend the many disabled people who are role models and ambassadors in our country. I pay particular tribute to our athletes who took part in the Paralympic Games last summer and the athletes who took part in the Special Olympics Winter Games last month. We have many other disabled artists, musicians and so forth, who are great ambassadors for our country. Unfortunately, when it comes to employment, Ireland has a dismal record. The employment rate for disabled people ranks the lowest in the EU. Our employment rate among disabled people is 32.6%, which is almost 20% below the EU average. The employment gap is wider in Ireland than it is in any other European country.”
“There needs to be some way to force people into doing something with a property if they own it and it is sitting idle when we have so many homeless people at the moment with nowhere to live, who would be willing and delighted to take on one of these houses and do it up and move in. Bellananagh is not an outlier; it is the same in every other town, village and city.”
“The person, who also had a number of health challenges, was told he or she did not qualify for the grant any more as he or she had moved in and the house was no longer vacant. Could that be looked at? It is really unfair. A number of people have mentioned the high level of vacancy. It is in every city, town and village throughout the country. I was contacted by someone who is on the housing list. She lives in the village of Bellananagh in Cavan, which is close to me. She sent me pictures of 22 houses that were vacant. They are not derelict but vacant. I know the resources are not there in the local authority to follow up and see who these houses belong to and if they could be sold or rented out.”
“In each case, the property was vacant for two years or more and qualified for the scheme when they bought it. They moved in because they had nowhere else to go. Even though the houses needed a lot of work, they were liveable. They applied for the grant and were told they did not qualify. Again they were left high and dry. There was one couple with a family who were being evicted from a house in Galway. They bought a house in Cavan, had no family support around them and moved in because they had nowhere else to go. They could not afford to pay for a bed and breakfast to live in while they applied for the grant. Another person, due to marriage breakdown, bought a cheap house.”
“For people earning anything from the low €30,000s to the low €50,000s, there is no support. They do not qualify for social housing or any of the supports that go with it but they also do not qualify for a home loan or for the affordable housing scheme, where it exists. The vacant property grant is very welcome, although the 13 month turnaround time is harsh on people who cannot find workers to do the work. I have come across a couple of examples of people who have bought homes which were vacant and qualified for the vacant property grant. However, in both cases, because they faced homelessness and did not have family nearby who they could stay with while they applied for the grant and moved into the home, were then deemed not to qualify for the vacant property grant. That is unfair.”
“They applied for a local authority loan but, because they already had a car loan and another loan, they were deemed to not qualify. If they had paid off those loans, the council said they might qualify for a loan of €132,000 to buy a house. It would be difficult to find a house for a family of this size for that sum. The interesting thing about this is that the working family payment was not taken into account as income in this situation. It is not fair to hold it against the family, as it were, for social housing. It is seen as income when people apply for social housing but not when they apply for a local authority loan. Could this be looked at to see if it could be changed? As for the affordable housing scheme, I was told that, in general, a person has to be earning more than €50,000 and up to €55,000 to qualify for it.”
“No problem. I thank the Acting Chair. I want to focus initially on low-income earners because they frequently fall between two stools, as it is. I will give an example of what I mean by this. Recently I was contacted by a constituent. She, her husband and their four children have been living in a rental property for the past 11 to 12 years and paying a reasonable rent. Now, however, the landlord requires the house for his son, who is returning from abroad. The family completely understands the situation. However, they cannot find anywhere to rent in the region for a reasonable sum. They applied for social housing but were deemed not to qualify because their earnings were €43,500 per year. The threshold is only €31,500. The family's income includes the working family payment.”
“While I am sure there is a reason for it, I do not know what that reason is. One childcare provider said she has to raise her fees because of the rise in costs. She said it would not affect the people who are in receipt of the universal subsidy but rather those who have the income-assessed subsidy. She said there is almost an assumption that those on the income-assessed subsidy are not working, and are instead dependent on social protection and at home. She said that is not the case, however. There are a lot of parents, and mothers in particular, who are working full time but in quite low-paid jobs. Therefore, it is having an impact. They will have to increase the amount they pay whereas those on a higher income will not. Is it possible to ensure there is a universal subsidy for all parents in this situation?”
“They are also finding it difficult to get the builders and tradespeople to build the extensions or new-builds needed by their service.s There are a number of new childcare services being started, which is very welcome. I am not sure what the available supports are. Can the Minister outline whether there are any supports available? The Building Blocks capital programme is for providers that are already in existence and registered with Tusla. Can the Minister outline if there are any supports for new services rather than just for existing services? With regard to the national childcare scheme, NCS, I have been asked why there could not be a universal subsidy for everyone. There is a universal subsidy for a household that has an income of €60,000 or more. For those earning less than €60,000, it is an income-assessed subsidy.”
“There have been improvements in recent years but they have not gone far enough. Some childcare providers have told me that the six-week turnaround time for applications for a Building Blocks grant - for an extension, for the construction a new build or for a new premises - is tight because the application requirements are extensive. If planning permission is needed, sometimes they may need more time to get the planning permission required and to do the necessary work in order to make sure they get the grant. They are required to have five quotes from builders, but some of them said they are lucky if they get one quote. That is just a reflection of the shortage in the construction sector.”
“We need to support both private and community services at the moment but we need a greater move to community childcare in general. Staffing is an issue. A childcare provider told me that she had never before had an issue with staff but they are now leaving to become special needs assistants, SNAs, or teachers, or are leaving to work in different sectors, for example for the HSE or Pobal. It is not just a matter of pay but also of conditions. It is about staff wanting paid maternity leave, more sick leave and better holidays. There are many different factors, perhaps including pensions. It is about pay and conditions. The childcare professionals in the sector are highly qualified and have level 8 degrees in many cases and yet are on a very low wage. That needs to be examined.”
“When their maternity leave is up, many of them have the option to take unpaid leave and do so if they can but others cannot afford to do so and may need to return to work when their baby is anything from six to nine months old. Parents cannot find childcare places for such children. I have mentioned the situation for children under the age of one but there is also a problem for children under the age of two. The Building Blocks capital programme is aimed at extensions to cater for children between the ages of one and three. Again, children under the age of one are not being catered for at all. There is an assumption that every parent will take a full year's leave but, as I said, that is not the case. I want more investment in community childcare places. That is important.”
“The Minister is welcome. Some of my points have already been raised but I will raise them again anyway. The first relates to capacity in the system, which is an ongoing problem, as we hear from parents and childcare providers. Many parents contact me because they cannot find somewhere to leave their newborn child when they need to go back to work. A childcare provider I talked to yesterday said her waiting list at the moment is between 230 and 240 children, 58 of whom are under the age of one. She has the capacity to take three babies. She said a lot of childcare providers are not even providing childcare for babies. They are not doing a baby room anymore. It is a huge problem. We are assuming that every mother who gives birth can take the full year off but that is not the case for all mothers.”