What is active citizenship
Active Citizenship is pointing out areas of our Democracy that are not working well and giving suggestions as to how to put it right. This is how many Voluntary Organisations start out. They spot a problem and they get volunteers together to try to solve the problem.
What the Government needs to do it Actively listen to Volunteer groups and individuals, start up a discussion and then act on the advice either by supporting the Voluntary Organisation or taking it on board and paying its members fully, so that the Service is offered to all citizens.
Sadly what we often see is that the Government starts to fund voluntary organisations and then drops them like the Childline and Womens Aid. We need more committment from the Government.
The area I am trying to point out is Childcare. The Government have responded to working mothers by offereing them some help with childcare expenses but has ignored Mothers in general many of whom do not have the luxury of "working" outside the home for money. I believe that all mothers and carers should be paid for the care they provide to our children and that all ex mothers and grandmothers who languish now in homes without pensions should receive "back pay" for all the years they worked "voluntarily" as unpaid mothers and carers. Nowadays a household needs two incomes to support a house and household so it makes sense to upgrade the voluntary work a mother does, and let her pay taxes, pay her insurance and contribute to her pension scheme. We talk a lot about the rights of children to housing, food etc but the most basic right a child should have is to 24 hour CARE all the way from babyhood to adulthood. A salary to cover that care could
be paid to the mother, the father, a nanny, a creche, a family member, a homehelp or any combination of the above.
If a mother had a salary to provide care for her children, no employer would have to pay maternity or paternity leave as the salary could cover it, small to medium business have found theses costs prohibitive and I think they are unnessary. If a mother choses to work outside the home, she could use the salary to pay a grandmother, or nanny to care fulltime for her children. But most importantly stay at home mothers would for the first time in decades get due recognition for the work they do.
Town:Dublin
