Those faced with the task of recommending improvements in areas of national importance face a dilemma. Should they recommend only those improvements which they believe are attainable? Or should they work out the best way forward and recommend that, regardless of the cost? The Commission on the Family seems to have taken the latter approach.
Its recommendations published last week contain much that is good - but also much that is unlikely to be achieved. Child benefit of £30 per week for every child under three years would be an attractive proposition to those who have young children. It would also strike a blow against poverty - one third of Irish children live in poverty. But does anybody seriously believe that this, or anything like it, is going to happen? Also attractive, and eminently sensible, is the proposal that the State should provide a subsidy of £1,000 per year per child for pre-schools, playgroups and creche/nursery services for children aged three to five years. But again we must ask: does anybody seriously believe that this will happen?
The public can hardly be blamed for cynicism. Today 1,000 parents and children will protest in Dublin at the low priority accorded childcare services. Fewer than 10 days ago, the Irish Association of Social Workers revealed that the cases of 2,400 children are on the waiting list for social workers in the Eastern Health Board area alone. Apart from a statement by Mr Alan Shatter of Fine Gael condemning this state of affairs, the political system seems hardly to have noticed what is, in effect, a catastrophe in waiting. For these and many, many other reasons, the public has good reason to be cynical. Yet there are many worthwhile recommendations in this report and it would be a great pity if despair at political apathy in relation to children's interests was allowed to obscure this.
The creation of the recommended 100 family resource centres in disadvantaged areas would make a significant difference to the lives of many people in those areas - and the full cost would be a very attainable £4 million a year. The extension of the Community Mothers Programme - in which "experienced" mothers support younger mothers who are under pressure - would be an extremely valuable move at a cost of only £3 million per annum. Can anybody doubt that a doubling of support for marriage counselling services, to £3 million per annum, would be anything but worthwhile?
Similarly, the extension of the Family Mediation Service throughout the State would save an enormous amount of bitterness and conflict when couples are separating, and would do so at a cost of £1.6 million per annum. Proposals such as these should not be overlooked - nor should the idea of a £1,000 subsidy for sending children aged three to five years, who are not in school, to pre-schools and similar services. The commission states that quality pre-school services "offer short and long-term value to children and in the long term they may have an impact on the quality of society." The annual cost would be £25 million to £85 million depending on take-up. That sum of money wouldn't look outrageously high if we were talking about cattle or pigs.