Madam, - I write with some concern about John Bruton's grasp of the facts in relation to my concern for the well-being of families and family members (Opinion, September 18th).
Mr Bruton is misinformed, and last weekend unfortunately used your newspaper to misinform your readers by quoting and erroneously then extrapolating on a Parliamentary Question reply given to a member of the Green party on April 28th last.
As indicated in my reply to the PQ, later this year I intend publishing a "coherent and comprehensive strategy for economic and social policies to support families". My reply continued that part of the process was a public consultation in which hundreds of people at a variety of venues around the country participated. (Incidentally, Mr Bruton did not attend any of these public forums nor make a submission.)
In addition to the public consultation, also being taken into account are the findings of the international conference hosted by the EU Presidency earlier this year on "Families, Change and European social policy" and a major OECD international study entitled "Babies and Bosses - reconciling work and family life". These consultations and my wide-ranging review of policies will result in a strategy for the ongoing improvement in supports for families in an integrated, systematic way across all relevant policy areas.
I should make it clear that, contrary to Mr Bruton's assessment, I can and am making a greater, immediate contribution to the well-being of family members in my role as Minister with responsibility for Family Affairs by concentrating on co-ordinating the development and implementation of economic, employment and social policies to strengthen families, than by embarking on a campaign to change the Constitution.
In his closing remarks, Mr Bruton reminded us that we were ahead of Britain in introducing children's allowances in 1944. However, he failed to give credit to the Fianna Fáil Government which introduced this allowance, a milestone in this country's social history. The current Fianna Fáil-led Government continues to put families first and is providing the funds to do so in a record-breaking social welfare budget this year of €11.2 billion. - Is mise,
MARY COUGHLAN, Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Store Street, Dublin 1.