Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to welcome the Second Stage debate on the introduction of the single affordable childcare scheme. Prior to the Minister's much elevated status she and I worked closely in the previous Dáil on some detailed child care policies and I know this measure means a lot to her. It has been well thought through and is being well led but it is but one step on a long road. Earlier this evening I had a coffee in this building with a young parent whose partner took time off work to care for their child and now needs to return to work. However, given the cost of child care in Wicklow, even having only one child it is not affordable for her to return to work.

We all know the cost of child care is crippling. For many, it is similar to a second mortgage. A few years ago when putting together a budget submission I calculated that for a couple to get to where their household cash would be if the returning mother or father did not go to work, he or she would have to earn €50,000 or more. In Wicklow, the annual cost for two children in a crèche could easily be €25,000 in fully taxed cash with no tax deductibles. To get €25,000 in cash, a person must earn €50,000. The ESRI reckons it costs about €10,000 to go to work, in cash terms and to get that, a person has to earn €20,000. Adjusting each amount a little for tax between a couple the earnings would have to be approximately €60,000. In Wicklow, a person who has two children and wants to return to work would have to earn €60,000 as a PAYE worker per year to get to zero. That person would not be able to afford even an additional Mars bar at the end of the year.

I apologise for not being here for the Minister's Second Stage speech but I was in my office writing my own speech. One of the points made by the Minister in her speech, however, is that this measure will help parents transition to employment, thereby making work pay for families on low and moderate incomes. A mother or father returning to work on an €80,000 per annum salary - which is a really good salary - is probably better off to the tune of about €10,000 at the end of the year, Consequently, I put it to the Minister that it is not just about low and moderate-income families, although that is the group this scheme is targeted at. One should not forget that a mum or dad returning to work on an €80,000 salary probably will end up with only €10,000 of that in his or her pocket, which is crazy.

What do we do? We know that average costs in Ireland are almost double the European average. If one were looking at this from the outside, one might form the view that if we are double the European average and if there is a market for child care, then clearly the honest, decent parents of Ireland are being ripped off by greedy cartel-like child care providers, such as occurs in the telecommunications or insurance sectors, but we all know that is not the case. We know that most child care providers - pretty much every child care provider I have ever spoken to - is making a very modest income. Many of them are just breaking even and something needs to be done about that. What is the problem? The problem is that as a country we are not investing enough of our tax take in supporting high quality affordable child care and early years education. I acknowledge that the Minister, were she a benevolent dictator, would invest more of our tax take in early years and children, as would I. As we start to consider the fiscal space for next year, where hopefully there will be a bit of room, we need to reflect on that when considering tax cuts. It is easy for us to talk about tax cuts. Maybe it plays well before an election, maybe not, but every tax cut essentially means less money to help lone parents and low-income families out of poverty traps or even to get reasonably high-earning people into a position whereby the mum or dad - usually the mum as this is a very gender-based issue - can return to work and continue with his or her career. It will take time for that to happen but the affordable childcare scheme is a welcome move in that direction.

The new affordable childcare scheme will also simplify the process for parents as it replaces a number of schemes. As Deputies, we do not qualify for any of the targeted interventions and that is as it should be but in preparation for this debate, as a parent I reviewed the different schemes online, including the community childcare subvention scheme, the child care education, training and support programme, the after-school child care programme, the community employment childcare programme and so on. Figuring out for which scheme one is eligible is incredibly complicated and even if one can figure that out, figuring out what band one falls into is another problem. I also reviewed the Department's notes. The eligibility criteria include a medical card, a GP card, low income, in education but not all education, in further training but not all further training and so on. For a person to get the €43 per week to which he or she is entitled, he or she may have to apply to three different agencies who, in turn, have to refer the application to a particular group and the service provider who must be registered with Tusla and to the county council. It is a nightmare. As a parent of three boys, I know that parents' heads are busy and struggling parents and lone parents' heads are really busy. Finding the time to sit down and work out all of this stuff is a real problem. I welcome that all of those schemes are being replaced by one scheme.

There are various provisions in the legislation that can be improved as it progresses through the Houses. I also reviewed this scheme on the Department's website to see if I could get my head around it. It, too, is complicated. We know that there is a universal payment. In other words, regardless of whether a person earns €50,000 or €1 million per annum, he or she will receive a payment of €900 or €1,000 per annum or €20 per week and that below €48,000 the payment increases. What we do not know is whether there is a step change or if the payment increases quickly. I appeal to the Department and to every civil servant in the country to keep it simple so that it can be understood by people like me and others. I am glad that the myriad of eligibility rules are being simplified. It is incredibly difficult to understand what one might be eligible for. The criteria also act as barriers. As Deputies we all know there are people who should be getting access to payments but who fall between the stools. It may be that they have a GP card but they live in the wrong country and so on. What I like about this scheme is that it rids us of some of those unintended barriers. For example, parents in low-income employment or self-employment who are ineligible for family income supplement have found themselves excluded from a particular type of scheme for which they should have been eligible based on their income. Some parents in education and training courses do not qualify for the child care education and training support but will qualify for this scheme, which is very important.

I would like to make a few suggestions on how we could improve the Bill. I accept there were IT issues, which delayed the roll-out of the scheme. Hopefully, they have all been resolved. On progressivity, if I understand it correctly, regardless of a person's income he or she will get a payment. I made the point earlier that even households on pretty good incomes are crippled by child care costs. The amount a person has to earn for it to be worth his or her while returning to work is huge. A person who has two or three children would need to earn a huge wage to do that.

I understand the thinking behind a universal payment but it might be worth considering capping it at some level. I am not convinced that giving the payment to someone earning €250,000 is a good way to spend the money. I am not sure there are many people with young children earning €250,000. Maybe the money would be better targeted towards the lower and moderate ends.

I wish to address an issue that my colleague has touched upon. There appears to be a lack of choice. I understand there is Tusla registration, which accounts for approximately one in five children in early-years settings at present. There is a bias, therefore, towards centre-based care. Obviously, very many parents use child minders or small-scale provision. As the Minister laid out in her speech, the scheme is creating the framework for something else. It would be unfortunate if it created a bias against child minders, in whom we need to invest and who need training and quality control. I would certainly like to see this explored as the Bill makes its way through the Oireachtas.

As an aside, I am aware that some child care providers have been putting up their prices in line with recent Government changes in a way that is very confusing for many parents. Deputy Rabbitte, on behalf of Fianna Fáil, will be introducing a Bill to achieve transparency in child care pricing. This is important.

The Minister's Bill is a step in the right direction. Ultimately, however, we need to see the same respect, investment and standards applied to early years education, child care provision, crèche-based care and childminder care as are applied to teachers. Our primary school system is phenomenal. Our teachers are phenomenal but they are held to a very high standard. They are remunerated and protected with pensions and sick pay. Obviously, our child care providers do not have these. I would love to see early years education treated with the same respect as primary and further education and subject to the same degree of accountability and standards. I wish the Minister good luck with the Bill.

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