Philomena Moran believes that the current debate on childcare services is too focused on one issue: the economic needs of employers, writes Lorna Siggins
Parents: Philomena Moran, a stay-at-home mother and her husband, PJ, a farmer, living in Glenamoy, Erris, Co Mayo
Children: Steven (seven), Seán (four) and nine-month-old twins Katie and Ethan
What they have: Philomena works in the home caring for the children
What they want: Weekly payment or tax allowance for parents so they can make their own choices about childcare
Does fuelling the Celtic cat necessarily benefit its cubs? Philomena doubts it, and she fears that society at large could suffer if there isn't greater recognition of the value of having one parent working in the home.
"I suppose I feel very strongly about this because my mother reared every one of us - and there were 14 of us, 10 girls and four boys - at home in Belmullet," she says. "She didn't go out working until the last one of us was in secondary school, and even then the job she got was one that would allow her to be at home when my youngest brother returned from school."
Philomena lives with her husband, a farmer, and four children in the relatively isolated area of Glenamoy, in Erris.
"I have family around me, but you can't be drawing on them all the time, and if I was to go out to work, my wages would all be going to a minder," she says. "I'd be very conscious of who I'd leave my kids with anyway, and I always said that the day I had kids was the day I would decide to stay at home.
"I've been lucky enough, I suppose, to be able to do that, but I met one woman the other day who had twins about the same time as me and she didn't, and doesn't, have that choice.
"I firmly believe parents should be given a choice, and that the value of deciding to spend time with kids should be recognised and acknowledged by society. I believe this should be in the form of some form of weekly payment or tax allowance, because it is an investment in the future that will benefit all of us.
"No one can discipline children the way their parents can, and parenting is not a job that finishes at 5pm every evening. Even if you can get them through national school, and then take part-time work which ensures there is someone in when they walk in the door each evening, you are getting the foundation right."
The issue of choice raised by Philomena is echoed in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region submission on the issue made to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Law Reform last month. BMW representatives, including the Galway City and County Childcare Committee, favour affordable childcare services rather than free pre-school education. Their submission says that targeted subsidies should be available to families in special circumstances who cannot afford childcare fees. The diverse needs of families must be met in a "holistic" way, and they favour parental involvement in the development and management of services and community-based facilities.