Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Child care costs and the availability of places in affordable child care are the biggest barriers to women in particular in accessing the workforce. Every week in my clinics I meet women, lone parents and married, who are being put under pressure by the Department of Social Protection to actively seek work but who cannot access not only affordable but any child care that would allow them to access work if there was any work out there for them. They are being told this is not acceptable.

While I support this motion, I believe the measures proposed are only stop gaps and are not sustainable child care solutions.

Child care costs account for 29% of a couple's net income and 51% of lone parents' income. In the European Union the comparable figure are 9.8% and 9.9% respectively. A family in this State with two children in full-time child care will spend over €16,000 per year providing for it.

The use of relatives is the most common form of non-parental child care in the State with only 27% of children being cared for in centre-based care. This clearly shows that cost is a major factor for parents in accessing child care.

The solution to this problem is not a piecemeal system of supports for children, a system of social welfare provision and tax breaks as outlined in the motion. Such a system will only continue to fragment child care provision in the State and will not provide for long-term solutions. We need a system in which preschool and child care services are provided along the lines of the education system in the country. An integrated child care and education system is the only long-term and sustainable solution.

The only way operators in the private and community child care sector can reduce their costs is through low wages. This means most staff in the child care sector, many of whom have studied and attained qualifications, are working for the minimum wage and, in some cases, even less. The OECD identified wages as an issue in a recent report:

Competitive wages attract a strong professional staff that is more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, perform well and make long-term career commitments leading to lower staff turnover rates. The latter generally results in stronger relationships between staff and children, calmer, less aggressive child behaviour, and improved language development. Staff with low wages are more likely to take on second jobs, lowering their performance through greater fatigue and less commitment.

If we want to provide quality child care and a decent standard of living for child care workers we need a new model based on public provision and one which is integrated into the education system.

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