Clare Byrne

to make sure that you still have all the other essentials remaining in place and continue to pay them.

And the thing about the life insurance policies, the illness and things like that, they're guaranteed premiums.

Those prices will never change on those.

But what we do see, you know, people cancelling maybe their health insurance and that is not... That's a no-no, you're saying.

No, do not cancel it.

Because, you know, unfortunately, when we did see in the last recessions, people did cancel their policies and unfortunately then they did get sick.

And then if they were in hospital, they were relying on public health care and waiting lists.

Yeah, well, look, there'll be bumps in the road, you know, and that's the thing.

And so, you know, and so it's just important to make sure that you put the financial plan in place and it will evolve with you and your change in circumstances over time, which is the most important thing.

The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk.

With Aviva Insurance.

Now, Children's Books Ireland this week warned that children are missing out on a lifetime of reading because the government doesn't fund school libraries properly.

Well, someone who's passionate about encouraging children to read is children's author Patricia Ford, who was previously, until very recently, the former Irish Children's Laureate.

And Patricia's new book for children is called The Island of Bees, which is illustrated by Paddy Donnelly.

And she's here with me.

Lovely to have you here.

So you've spent three years in this role as laureate and you hear all of this around screens taking over, children not reading.

What is it really like out there from your point of view?

It's all about what they see, though, isn't it?

It's all about what you model as well in the house.