Debate contribution: Universal, Affordable Child-centred Childcare

Debate contribution by Mr David Brooks on 18 November 2024.

MLA

Mr David Brooks

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

18 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Universal, Affordable Child-centred Childcare

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4656649

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The point remains that the Minister's point was made on data that has been collected and is therefore accurate. I will see what I can get through. I want to acknowledge that, in general, in this place, there is goodwill towards childcare. We all want to see improvements for our constituents and families. Indeed, when the Minister made his announcement back in May, our party leader, Gavin Robinson, who has himself expended considerable efforts on those issues, acknowledged the collaboration with the Opposition party's now leader, Claire Hanna, alongside Melted Parents, to inform the plan that the Minister brought forward for the initial £25 million. Indeed, at the Education Committee, I often engage with Pat Sheehan to say that, if we want to see this, we need the Finance Minister to engage. We have seen the Finance Minister bring resources to the Minister that have allowed him to progress. It is fair to say that, in the Committee, there has always been a rightful intent to apply scrutiny to decisions and not allow Ministers to rest on their laurels. I know that the Minister wishes for that. There has, nevertheless, been general acknowledgement of progress and a shared interest in seeing the issue prioritised and advanced. I certainly believe that the Minister, as he has outlined, is grasping those challenges and meeting them head-on. My colleague Peter Martin has already laid out our party's position on the motion and amendment. I align with that. I will not duplicate too much. I recognise that the Opposition will want to be seen to hold feet to the fire and to push for more, push for it faster and push for greater ambition. However, if I may say so, they have plucked the arbitrary figure of 50% out of the air, even if it sounds good to the public's ears. You could pluck arbitrary figures on just about anything. We could have a 50% cut to electric bills, food bills and fuel bills. That is all desirable — perhaps, even, universal for Mr Carroll — but, while all those things would help families, and there is nobody who would not welcome them, we need more than that from the official Opposition. We need to have a plan in that regard.

I have an extra minute. There you go. I thought that my time was up. We cannot rely on the fantastical pipe dreams of how we will fund that. Of course, it would be desirable to be able to give everyone in society universal free healthcare. Of course, it would be desirable to give everyone who depends heavily on childcare, particularly working families, a 50% cut in their bills. I hope that we can work towards that, but we should not set unrealistic targets or raise expectations beyond what they may be. Instead, we should stick to the Minister's plan, which is to help people and deliver that in real time. We look forward to all parties in the Executive supporting efforts in the longer term and multi-year budgets to see further support for childcare.

512 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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