John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute. I compliment Deputy Robert Troy for putting forward the motion, which gives us an opportunity to debate and to make suggestions on how we can move the issue forward. During my time in this House, we have come a long way in regard to developments such as special needs assistants and child care facilities. In my own county, child care centres have been developed in recent years in a number of remote areas like Askamore, Monaseed and Inch, close to Gorey, as well as in some of the towns.

As our motion points out, child care provision in Ireland covers a mixed model of provision, with services delivered through the community, the private sector and the public sector. There are approximately 4,300 child care centres in Ireland and the number of staff is approximately 21,000 to 22,000, some full-time, some part-time, but all doing a good job in providing the services. There are 405,000 households in Ireland with children under ten years of age, of which 266,000 households have children under five. We are told the birth rate in Ireland is the highest in the EU and projections suggest growth in the number of children under five in the period to 2016, and the number of children of less than five years old will increase between 2011 and 2016 by some 4%. Therefore, the motion is timely and it is important we would plan for this increase in the number of children from now up to 2016.

There is a wide diversity of child care arrangements in use in Ireland, with more than three quarters of pre-school children cared for by parents or relatives. The cost of child care in Ireland is a significant burden for families. As Deputy Troy pointed out, a recent Indecon survey carried out for Donegal County Childcare Committee last year estimated the annual cost of full-time child care for two children at €16,500 per year. A lady who came to my clinic last week works in a Government Department and is not highly paid, but she pays in the region of €700 per month for child care in addition to paying a mortgage and trying to survive and provide her family with a decent quality of life. The cost of child care in Ireland is the second most costly in the OECD in net terms as a percentage of wages, and for lone parents the average cost of child care is estimated to be 45% of average wages.

The early childhood service infrastructure is in many ways under-utilised due to inconsistent access to child care funding schemes and non-regulation of the paid child-minding sector. In addition, subsidised child care places are not equally accessible in all areas of the country. This is an area the Minister will have to seriously consider for the future.

The motion calls for the introduction of a new child care incentive to target specific groups where child care costs are a barrier to labour market participation. In doing so, we believe it is essential to direct any incentives to low income families in order to support employment. To further target this, it may be best to look at unemployed families with children under five, given 68,000 families were in that position in 2011, although that has probably increased substantially by now.

The Fianna Fáil motion also suggests the provision of a direct payment to families related to the cost of child care through the family income supplement scheme. This has been one of the more successful schemes. It has been continued by different governments and is an important scheme in terms of ensuring families have a decent standard of living.

I imagine it would be possible through the family income supplement scheme to make a direct payment to families utilising this scheme. It is an area the Minister should look at.

In recent times, different Government Ministers and Deputies have been talking about the Scandinavian system. It is this Government's intention to develop such a system in this country. We would certainly welcome that because the Scandinavian system is held up as a model for the rest of Europe. I ask the Minister when she replies to outline her thoughts on the Scandinavian system and where the Government is in respect of the introduction of a similar system in Ireland.

I welcome the motion and thank Deputy Troy for putting it down. I know he has a deep interest in this area and it is important that all sides of the House work to provide a better child care service for young people. We could talk here for ages, particularly about children with special needs. I remember how a number of years ago, the first special needs assistants in the country were employed in Enniscorthy vocational college. We had one special needs assistant for three people in wheelchairs, one of whom was my daughter. We have come a long way from that situation and now it is nearly one for one. Certainly, there is a need to ensure people with special needs are catered for in whatever new child care system the Government decides to adopt.

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