Madam, - The article in last Friday's edition to which Brendan Smith, Minister of State for Children, signed his name left me with a profound sense of depression. As the father of a 21-month-old child, I feel that, since the huge budget surpluses of the late 1990s, ministers seem to think the answer to every challenge is to apply huge sums of money and hope it gets fixed or goes away. They then boast about the money spent, giving the illusion of activity and progress.
Mr Smith's article did not demonstrate any coherent overall public policy stance in relation to our children. It focused on a very narrow topic, the funding of childcare places. It was an opportunity wasted.
An example of this lack of coherent planning was the policy of encouraging women back into the workplace without ensuring that their vital role in raising children was properly supported.
A coherent public policy in this area would consider the role of the father, mother and children as well as balancing the needs of employees and employers in supporting them. It would state in simple terms, with an immediate action plan, how this republic plans to ensure our children are nurtured, developed and cared for in the pre-school years, learning from countries such as France or the Nordics.
This policy would ensure we supported and encouraged both men and women whether they wished to continue working or stay at home with their children and it would mean we would have something to sustain us when the money runs out. - Yours, etc,
JONATHAN LAW,
The Moorings,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.