Richard Boyd Barrett on Childcare Crisis and Citizens' Assembly
Richard Boyd Barrett urged that childcare be included in the Citizens' Assembly deliberations, describing the sector as being in crisis over affordability and lack of places. He called for affordable, universally available and sufficient childcare and warned that current shortages are a major driver of gender inequality.
Main concerns
To say there is a crisis in childcare, affordability and provision would just be a massive understatement, he said. He cited average costs of €186 per week nationally and €246 in his area, calling the expense literally the cost of another mortgage, and highlighted the shortage of childcare places.
Local provision and compliance pressures
He warned that small community creches are suffering as a result of backlash against poorly run large corporate providers, with places reduced and costs rising to meet compliance standards, pushing prices further out of reach for families. He noted that announced schemes such as national childcare subsidies and two years free preschool are undermined when places cannot be found.
Government measures outlined
The Taoiseach responded by listing recent government measures to make childcare more affordable and improve quality. He said two years of free preschool (ECE) have been introduced; paid parental leave and paid parental benefit were introduced for the first time; unpaid parental leave was extended; maternity benefit was increased and rules were changed for premature births; paternity benefit was increased; and capital investment in childcare has been provided.
National Child Care Scheme and policy direction
The Taoiseach said the National Child Care Scheme has been introduced and that initial figures will be published tomorrow, with over 14,000 children already signed up. He stated that the scheme increases subsidies for existing recipients and extends subsidies to some middle-income families with a gross income of around 100,000. He envisaged increasing subsidies further and ensuring more middle-income families can qualify in future.
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Yeah, Taoiseach, I also want to raise the issue of childcare and the important necessity of it being part of the Citizens' Assembly deliberations on this issue. To say there is a crisis in childcare, affordability and provision would just be a massive understatement. The average cost per week of childcare in this country is now €186. In my area, it is €246. Completely unaffordable. It is literally, it's not rhetorically, it is literally the cost of another mortgage. And the lack of places, the lack of provision to ensure that places are available and that those places are affordable is really shocking. And it's all very well announcing year after year that we're going to have national childcare schemes and subsidies and two years free preschool. But then you actually find, you can't find the places, and indeed more recently, that because of the backlash against, you know, badly run, often sort of big corporate childcare facilities, that the small community creche is actually suffering the consequences, places are being reduced in them, costs are going up in them to meet compliance standards, with Tuesday pushing the prices even further out of the realm of affordability. And this is the major, I would say, one of at least, if not the major, contributing factor to gender inequality in this country. So, what is the government going to do to provide affordable, universally available and sufficient childcare places in this country? On childcare, I'm not sure if any government prior to this one has done more to make childcare more affordable or to improve its quality. Just to give you a few examples, everyone now has two years of free preschool, of ECE. We've introduced paid parental leave and paid parental benefit for the very first time. We've extended unpaid parental leave, increased maternity benefit and changed the rules, particularly around women whose child is born prematurely, that they can have more maternity leave. We've increased paternity benefit, provided capital investment for childcare and just in the last few weeks, we've introduced the National Child Care Scheme. We'll be publishing the initial figures from that tomorrow, but I can let the House know that over 14,000 children have already signed up for that scheme. And it means increased subsidies for those already receiving subsidies. And for the first time, some middle-income families qualifying for subsidies for the very first time, families with a gross income of around 100,000. And I think that's only right, because people on middle incomes are those who pay the most income tax, and they should benefit from these schemes as well. And I would envisage in the years ahead, us increasing the subsidies for everyone, but also ensuring that more middle-income families and more middle-class families can qualify for these subsidies too. Because it would be wrong to expect them to pay very high amounts of income tax in the U.S.C., but then not be able to benefit from these schemes. So that's very much the direction of travel in terms of policy.
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