It is surreal that on the day after a budget, the leader of the country is not questioned by the largest party in the so-called Opposition. I will take this opportunity to question him because the budget produced by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents was billed in advance as a reparations budget, one which was meant to compensate those who were sacrificed in the eight-year bailout of the bankers and developers. People are looking at the budget details over their cornflakes this morning and asking whether this is it. While very little was given back to low and middle income workers and pensioners and even less was given back to young people who are unemployed, builders, landlords and people who are due an inheritance were rewarded as were businesses, which are due a windfall.

As long as the Government is working off a tiny fiscal space of €1.2 billion, it is inevitable that life will not improve for the majority of people. Today's edition of The Irish Times features a comment piece arguing that the budget no longer matters because the figure involved is only €1.3 billion. The Anti-Austerity Alliance agrees with that view. The debate about the fiscal space is completely false because the vast majority of the €230 billion produced in Ireland every year is untapped and untaxed.

In the time available to me, I will focus on one measure, namely, the much lauded centrepiece proposal on child care. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the proposal for the nation and families. The new payment will be means tested for a relatively small number of households with a maximum income of €47,500 who happen to have their children in a crèche for 40 hours per week. How many families will gain from the payment?

The universal subsidy ends at the age of three years, but, obviously, child care continues for a lot longer.

My main issue is this. Will the Taoiseach clarify whether people who use childminders will be included in the scheme? There is talk out of two or three sides of the Government's mouth on the issue. Nurses, shift and part-time workers and those on zero-hour contracts do not have their children in a crèche from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but they may have a child care worker or a minder collecting their children, yet they have completely been left out of this proposal. Will they be included and, if so, when?

Where is Scandinavian child care system people in this country were promised? We know that UNICEF recommends that a figure of 1% of GDP be spent; we spend 0.2%. The Scandinavian countries have higher corporation tax rates. In Denmark the rate is 24.5%; in Norway, 27% and Sweden, 22%. As long as Ireland continues to be a tax haven, we will not be able to provide affordable child care services in this country.

This and the previous Government prioritised children and their central importance in Irish society. That is why we had the appointment of a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, a referendum to enshrine the rights of children in the Constitution and set up and funded Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, is following on the work already done in facilitating free GP care for every child under six years. The introduction of a second pre-school year is being followed by her reflections and proposals on how we can draw together the many disparate elements of child care in an effective, co-ordinated and comprehensive system that will both have a universal and a focused and targeted element for those at work, given the cost of child care in this country which is among the highest in Europe. The second free pre-school year is saving parents on average of some €4,000 per child. Some 127,000 benefit from it, while 65,000 can benefit from the introduction of two weeks' paternity leave. As I said, added to this, free GP care for the under-sixes benefits the parents of over 435,000 children.

This year, obviously, people have to make a choice. Sometimes mothers will decide to stay at home or to have their children looked after by other members of the family such as grandparents and so on while they are at work. We are very clear that what happens in the early years really benefits children into adulthood. The budget is following through on progress in that regard. The home carers tax credit will be increased by 10% to €1,100 from 1 January. The new affordable child care scheme will commence in September next year. As I said, it will have both a universal and a targeted element. In respect of childminders who are members of the family such as grandparents who are not registered, clearly, the Government recognises the work they do as an essential part of family life, as it has been for generations. However, if the State wishes to subsidise child care, we need to know where the children are and who their childminders are. That is a responsibility with which the State has to comply. Childminders in that situation with children in the home can, of course, register with Tusla first if they wish to benefit, but that is a choice they have to make.

The Taoiseach has not answered the question. I was not asking about a family member, a grandmother or anyone else, minding a child out of kindness, rather I was asking about childminders, people who are qualified to do so. On the scheme the Government has implemented, it was announced yesterday that only Tusla-run child care centres would be included; therefore, the Government is excluding a huge number of parents, particularly those with more than one child, where it would be more economical for them to have a childminder minding two or three children. The Taoiseach did not prioritise children. This is the first Government in a long time which has not increased child benefit in a budget, as has been remarked on. Who advised the Taoiseach on the budget? Was it Michael O'Leary, whom he invited to the Fine Gael think-in-----

He was not there.

-----at which there was brilliant applause and they all laughed and clapped at his jokes? Was it he who was introduced by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, as Ireland's leading altogether decent person, who had castigated RTE, the public sector, bus workers and practically everybody else, or was it Tom Parlon? There is one measure the Taoiseach introduced for which he has to answer. Nobody had advocated for a first-time buyer's grant. The housing committee had not done so, yet Tom Parlon apparently did and he gets what he wants. It will not even apply to cheaper second-hand homes for young people.

I am sorry, but the Deputy may only raise one matter during Leaders' Questions.

I completely reject Deputy Ruth Coppinger's assertion that the Government has not focused on children.

What about child benefit?

We have just given, for the first time ever, 11,000 medical cards to children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance is paid. It was an issue for years but was unable to be touched. However, it has now been dealt with. The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has achieved the highest budget ever for the health service, much of which will be focused on the provision of facilities for children. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, is employing 2,500 new teachers next year and there will also be a serious capital programme to provide school facilities. I, therefore, reject the Deputy's assertion completely. Resource and special needs teachers have an impact on children's lives. I do not accept from the Deputy that the Government has not focused on children as a priority.

What about child benefit?

That is why children are represented by a Minister at the Cabinet table and, for the first time ever, there is a really serious injection of finance that will help thousands of people with child care costs which are very expensive.

Just €32 million has been allocated in the budget.

All of these things will contribute to a reduction in the level of child poverty and are to the benefit of parents, whether they be single or part of a couple.