CHILDCARE. AT WHAT COST?

WORDS: ZOE COMYNS

Childcare is now costing Irish parents more than the average mortgage and even with recent inroads being made into creating a coherent national strategy it seems that Ireland’s parents are set for another year of crippling costs, limited accessibility and varied quality in childcare.

Ireland has the highest fertility rate in the EU, 1.99, with France close behind at 1.95. In spite of this high figure, growth in the childcare sector has not increased in parallel with these rising birth rates. The current increase in birth rates, since a decline in the 1980s, parallels the economic growth the country is currently experiencing. Yet this economic growth is not being matched by improved infrastructure.
Throughout Europe there has been increased social, economic and political change over the past number of years. Through improved leave entitlements for parents and the more common practice of flexible working, parental support in relation to childcare has improved. However childcare in Ireland is still underdeveloped, and this is affecting employers and parents alike.

The IBEC Small Firms Association (SFA), pre-budget 2006 Submission on Childcare stated categorically that; “The availability of high quality, flexible and affordable childcare should be given equal priority as the improvement of hard infrastructure such as roads and public transport. From an employer perspective, there is no doubt of the need for the provision of quality childcare, to allow all who wish to work, the opportunity to do so”.

Dublin City Childcare Committee (DCCC) is one of 33 City and County Childcare Committees set up in 2001 to support the local development of Childcare and is led by the Office for the Minister for Children. The latest audit carried out on childcare in Ireland was completed by the DCCC and revealed that “In a city of 80,172 children, of which 28,284 are under four years of age, there are only 9,995 childcare places available” and approximately “36% of those places are part time”.

Read more about Childcare. At what cost? in the February | March 2007 issue of WMB, subscribe now.