Up to 25,000 additional low-income families may benefit from access to affordable childcare under plans being considered ahead of next week’s budget.
If approved, it would represent a key step towards the Government’s aim of providing subsidised childcare for all working parents for children up to the age of 12.
At present, the State provides subsidies to not-for-profit childcare services to support disadvantaged or low-income families who wish to return to work or education.
Many eligible families cannot access the community childcare subvention programme because it is not available in their local area.
Government officials are exploring the possibility of extending these subsidies to private childcare providers for the first time.
This would potentially double the number of available affordable places from 25,000 to 50,000.
The provision of subsidised childcare for all working parents forms the centrepiece of a Government blueprint on investment in childcare, published earlier this year by Minister for Children Dr James Reilly.
The cost and quality of childcare has emerged as a major political issue, with latest figures showing creche fees in Ireland among the most expensive in Europe.
Officials are considering merging schemes such as the community childcare subvention programme – which part-funds about 25,000 places – and a separate programme, the childcare education and training supports, which affords 2,800 childcare places.
Under a single system of income support, childcare subsidies could be available initially to low-income families on medical cards or in receipt of work-related benefits such as the family income supplement.
The European Union has consistently highlighted childcare as a problem in Ireland and has described poor access to childcare, as well as its high cost, as "a significant barrier to parents finding employment and avoiding the risk of poverty".
Other elements of a childcare investment plan under discussion include two weeks of paid paternity leave and extending parental leave for up to a further month.
The Government’s policy is to move in the long term towards a full year’s leave during the first 12 months of the child’s life.
Paternity leave
Extending both paternity and parental leave would also be regarded as a key step towards this goal.
Currently, mothers are entitled to 26 weeks of maternity leave with the option of an additional 16 weeks of unpaid leave. Employers are not obliged to give any special leave to the father.
A spokesman for Dr Reilly declined to comment, on the basis that budget discussions were private.
StartStrong, a coalition of organisations committed to advancing quality care and education for young children, said it would welcome moves to expand subsidised childcare.
“We’ll need to wait and see what’s in the Budget, but extending the Community Childcare Subvention Programme could be welcome step in ensuring there is publicly subsidised childcare available to all families,” said StartStrong director Ciairín de Buis.
“It would ensure all children aren’t missing out by virtue of geography, depending on whether they live in a community subvention area. . . . If this is a first step, we wil need to ensure much more is done.”
