Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I was not for a minute suggesting that it was one versus the other, namely, a choice between restoring child benefit or providing childminding services. The only way to ensure that all families can access child care is for it to be publicly provided and viewed as being important for children and for allowing women to work on an equal basis. Just as first and second level education is now accepted as being something that the State should provide, the same should be the case for preschool child care. When the Minister mentioned on RTE radio what she had introduced in the budget, she stated that she had decided to give money to public services rather than parents. The problem is that child care in Ireland is not a public service. It is utterly private. It has been outsourced to the private for-profit sector, leading to the highest child care costs and badly paid workers who have poor conditions of employment and a lack of fulfilment. An investment of €2 billion is required if we are to reach the level of service that is provided in countries like those in Scandinavia, but that would involve us taxing multinationals and ending our position as a tax haven.

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