Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. It is fair to say that child care services are not a luxury; they are an essential public good. According on an OECD report, in this country, unfortunately, working families on an average wage spend 45% of their monthly income on child care costs, while the EU average is 15%. As a country we spend 0.4% of GDP on child care, while the European average is 0.7%. In Scandinavia, the level of expenditure increases to 1.4%.

Families are struggling. They pay full-time child care fees of approximately €1,000 per month. Any families watching the “Prime Time” report recently would not have got a sense from the Minister that she has a plan to tackle the issue. On the “Prime Time” programme in question she indicated that she hoped to introduce a second free preschool year in two years’ time. Preschool care involves three hours a day, five days a week. That will not tackle child care costs. What does the Minister intend to do to ensure we have quality, affordable child care that will allow men and women to go to work if they so wish?

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