Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The forthcoming budget represents a genuine opportunity to deliver for those who are struggling to make ends meet. The Taoiseach says he represents those who get up early in the morning. I can tell him that nobody gets up earlier in the morning than those who are raising young children. While Fine Gael and their friends in Fianna Fáil engage in a sham fight over tax cuts, and hammer out a budget that will disproportionately benefit the well-off in society, young families in Ireland are faced with some of the highest child care costs in the world. In his so-called republic of opportunity, many parents are paying what amounts to a second mortgage to ensure that their children are looked after. The reason for that rests squarely at the feet of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil-led Governments which completely failed to invest in the early years sector.

Announcing measly tax cuts that will put loose change in the pockets of those families is no good. They will not be so easily bought off. By signalling a preference for tax cuts over the necessity to build decent public services, the Government is choosing to abandon those families. We in Sinn Féin have also made a choice. We have chosen to stand on the side of the struggling families. We want to see a budget that puts their interests first through the proper funding and resourcing of the early years sector. High quality affordable child care is an essential public service. It allows parents return to work and avoid poverty traps and it provides employment.

The Taoiseach needs to wake up to the pressures young families are facing today. They are hanging on by their finger nails. He must commit to providing high quality, affordable child care throughout the State. In our alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposes an increase in the universal child care subsidy – from 50 cent an hour to €2.50 an hour. That is a fivefold increase. This measure would put €420 a month, per child, into the pockets of struggling families. It would make a real difference not only for parents, but also for child care providers who are prevented from reinvesting in their services as they operate on a break-even basis. My question to the Taoiseach is very simple. Will he adopt this proposal in budget 2018 and give those families a real break?

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