The Labour Party supports Deputy Kenny's proposal, to which the Taoiseach has agreed, to debate a motion that would record the view of this House that it is reprehensible that a woman with a record of humanitarian good work should have her liberty interfered with in this fashion.

Two reports were published this week, one by the Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght and one by the Trinity Children's Research Centre, both highlight in the most stark fashion the inequalities in our society. The Trinity report shows that the number of children living in housing that is overcrowded, damp, in disrepair and in poor neighbourhoods has more than doubled between 1991 and 2002. The report from Tallaght, covering four estates in west Tallaght, highlights under every index of deprivation that it is not a case of the Celtic tiger being back but of the Celtic tiger economy never impacting in certain areas, certainly in urban Ireland. The Trinity report bears out that the facts highlighted in the west Tallaght report are replicated in several other major urban areas. That report shows that a total of 90% of children live in fear of anti-social activity, that 25% of children live in damp and unheated housing, and that there is a serious level of educational deprivation. It also refers to a number of other matters that demonstrate that after all the years of prosperity no impact has been made in terms of improving the condition of people on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

What is the Taoiseach's response to the recommendations in these reports? What is his response to the aggravating impact of the 16 social welfare cuts that are, for example, causing lone parents to leave the workforce and stay at home? What is the Government's response to the impact of inadequate policing and of the failure to expand early school intervention or act on a host of other recommendations in the west Tallaght report?

I welcome the report of the Childhood Development Initiative in west Tallaght. It is an excellent report which I had the opportunity to examine last night. I thank the community in west Tallaght for highlighting the issues. The Government is keenly aware of some of the issues but they have been highlighted in such a way that we must now take action. Our focus is not just on that community but on the 25 communities represented in the areas of disadvantage that are being targeted in a number of programmes set up to assist them. I also welcome the engagement of the west Tallaght community in this process.

All of the houses in this area, which includes Jobstown, Fettercairn, Killinarden, Brookfield, have been built within the past 20 years. I was a member of Dublin Corporation when all of these were planned and built. These houses are of very recent vintage compared to accommodation in other areas. The schools and community facilities in the area were built within the past 20 years. My colleague, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has met representatives of the organisations in the area to discuss the issues of deprivation, social exclusion and poverty in the area. As the report highlights, there are many incidences of this.

The findings of the report confirm that there is a need for action in a number of areas. It is up to the Government to try to deal with these issues. The report highlights housing as one of the key issues. It recommends that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and South Dublin County Council should develop a number of housing schemes in the west Tallaght area. As Deputy Rabbitte knows, a total of €105 million is being spent on that. We are also delivering to the communities concerned through the local authority housing estate enhancement scheme, which is very important to the area.

Play spaces and sports facilities were also highlighted in the report. We have spent €9 million in the greater Tallaght area under the sports capital programme. I understand further play areas, also highlighted in the report, are being developed in this area. Money is also being spent and plans formulated under the heading of the young people's facilities funds. A total of €7 million has been allocated under two rounds of the Tallaght local drugs task force in the past five years in the area.

Deputy Rabbitte asked what action will be taken on some of the initiatives. There is provision of early start pre-school places for children at risk of social disadvantage. Three schools in Tallaght are participating in the scheme. Four schools in Tallaght are participating in reading support programmes.

The time for this has expired.

I will come back to the Deputy. There are specific answers to his questions. The report contains very positive recommendations. It is not a report that merely criticises. I agree that we should try to implement those recommendations and I have a list of them.

I agree with the Taoiseach. It is a very positive report about a very positive community. The Taoiseach is also right when he says it is only one of 25 such communities that are disadvantaged. How can the Taoiseach say with a straight face that he proposes to respond to this when the RAPID programme, for example, was designed to do precisely that? A year in advance of the last general election, the Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats announced that €2 billion of the national development plan would be fast-tracked to 25 disadvantaged areas, precisely to do the things the Taoiseach read out in his note to the House. As soon as the election was over, they reversed engines and pulled the plug on the RAPID programme. Even though it has just scrapped the programme, the Government is now running around looking for nondescript projects to relabel as RAPID ones.

The statistics in this report are shameful to a country so wealthy. After more than a decade of unprecedented economic growth, children in a quarter of the houses surveyed are cold at night and there is heating in only one room. The dropout rate in education is almost 20%. The Taoiseach speaks of the Early Start and Breaking the Cycle programmes. However, these were introduced on a pilot basis by the former Minister for Education, Ms Niamh Breathnach, in the mid 1990s and have not been expanded since. Fianna Fáil has estimated that it can be re-elected without addressing these seriously disadvantaged areas. It is shameful that the housing estates surveyed, which the Tánaiste knows, were built 20 years ago when she and I walked the footpaths there.

The Early Start and reading programmes, the extra teaching resources and measures to introduce early school leaving through the school completion programme are all happening in the area. There are six primary schools, 19 post-primary schools and schools completion programme co-ordinators have been appointed. The clusters received a combined allocation of over €1.2 million. In all of these areas, as Deputy Rabbitte will know as their representative, a considerable amount of work is being undertaken which the report acknowledges. The report refers to further problems experienced such as heating provision and play areas, some of which have been built and others are in train. The report also refers to cultural and sporting issues and demands more action in these areas.

A number of Ministers have been involved in helping this community and other areas. It is not true to claim that no considerable expenditure is going into education, housing and other facilities in disadvantaged areas. The Government will continue to put in good education facilities, including pre-school, after school services and, in many cases, meals for school children. As Deputy Rabbitte knows the pupil teacher ratio in these schools is extremely high because the children require extra help. I accept a higher Garda presence is required in these areas. However, I do not accept no action has been taken. The report is asking for further action and resources for these areas which the Government accepts.