Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I also raise the issue of childcare and the necessity of including it as part of the Citizens' Assembly deliberations on gender equality. To say there is a crisis in the affordability and provision of childcare would be a massive understatement. The average cost per week of childcare in this country is €186, but it is €246 in my area. That is completely unaffordable. It is the same as having a second mortgage. The lack of provision of available, affordable places is shocking. It is all very well announcing programmes such as the national childcare scheme, subsidies, or two years of free preschool year after year, but people cannot find places. More recently, small community crèches are suffering the consequences of the backlash against badly-run, often big corporate, childcare facilities. The numbers of places in such small crèches are being reduced and costs are going up to meet Tusla's compliance standards, which is pushing prices even further out of the realm of affordability. This is one of, if not the biggest, contributing factors to gender inequality in this country. What is the Government going to do to provide affordable, universally available and sufficient childcare places in this country?

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