John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We hope the situation will come to a good end for the many workers. This is one of the greatest injustices ever perpetrated against workers. I am not accusing the Tánaiste of being responsible, as this started way back. Having worked for 20, 30 or 40 years, many people are still without their pensions and 30 or 40 have died. On behalf of Unite and the workers, I hope the negotiations come to fruition shortly.

I will concentrate on child benefit and the high cost of child care. Child benefit has shrunk from €160 per child in 2008 to its current level of approximately €130. The Government has added €5, returning €70 million to parents, but this does not make up for the €400 million that has been cut since 2009. The €5 will make no discernible difference to parents who, on average, are forking out €167 per week per child for child care. I cannot comprehend why the Government did not use the budget as an opportunity to promote high-quality, affordable child care.

According to the latest statistics, we have one of the lowest rates of investment in child care in Europe. This is astounding for a country that was once one of Europe's richest. Fees paid by Irish parents for early years services are among the highest in the EU. According to a staggering OECD figure this year, Ireland is one of the two most expensive countries in the world for child care, with the average family of two spending 40% of its wages on child care costs. This is an extraordinary, shameful and damning statistic. A developed country in the Western world, yet here we are. It is incomprehensible. It is estimated that a family with two children and with both parents working pays an average of 35% of net income on child care. For a lone parent on an average wage, child care costs can amount to 40% of his or her income, yet the average rate in the EU is 10% to 13% of family income. This is unacceptable in a modern country where we all talk about putting the issues and rights of women first. If the Government was serious about helping families and returning parents to work, we would address prohibitive child costs.

I met a group of 60 or 70 women, many of whom are teachers, during the week regarding this issue in particular. They suggested the introduction of a second free preschool year, which is already the case in many countries, particularly the Nordic ones. We need to step up to the plate. The lack of high-quality, affordable child care will continue to affect many families living in poverty and, as the Tánaiste knows, prevent many women from providing a valuable and integral contribution to the workforce. I do not understand it.

During the week, I spoke with two teachers who had three children. They made the point that, having qualified, one of them would have to make a decision on whether to stay at home to mind their three young kids because they could not afford child care for three children. We are educating people at a colossal cost to the Exchequer to become teachers, yet we are taking them out of the system because we will not help them with affordable child care. It does not make sense.

I have been involved in politics for 20 or 30 years and, for as long as I can remember, successive Governments have discussed all sorts of proposals to bring affordable and quality child care to women in particular and their children, yet we are no closer to achieving that in 2014. Not only is it incomprehensible, it would be shameful if we were to sit here and glance around the world at countries that, despite being poorer than us, had affordable child care because they concentrated on trying to get as many qualified people into the workforce as possible while ensuring children received care.

I do not know where the Government can go from here. Maybe it does not realise how great an issue this is. From speaking with many women in the workforce, however, I know this to be a major one for them. It is driving down their wages indirectly, in the sense that they must pay for child care, driving down spending power in communities and taking qualified people, for whose skills we have paid to some degree, out of the workforce in order that they can mind their children. It is reprehensible.

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